All set for a French toast storm

[redbird]

We not only have milk, eggs, and bread, we have good maple syrup.

I think the local governments are overreacting. Being prepared to shut down transit because of a hurricane is one thing. Announcing a day in advance that all trains will be shutting down at noon tomorrow seems excessive, and not just because I'm used to them keeping at least some service running through blizzard, hurricane, and northeaster.

We were going to go up to Schenectady this weekend, but we canceled that plan this morning. While we didn't know the MTA would be shutting the subway down, it seemed that Amtrak might get us up to Schenectady tomorrow, but the return trip Sunday was iffy.

I suspect I'm going to finish all my library books (I have another one waiting for me), and play a lot of Scrabble. We will go for a walk tomorrow morning, even though the Greenmarket, our usual Saturday destination, is closed. (So are all the zoos, live theater, beaches, etc. Beaches are obvious, and some of it I think is a consequence of not having transit.)

ETA: Just as well we'd already decided to stay home: Amtrak is running fewer trains Saturday, and none in the Northeast on Sunday, according to their Facebook page, which I was pointed to by the Washington Post; amtrak.com is still displaying yesterday afternoon's bit about trains canceled from DC south with further cancellations to come.

Comments

[amaebi]

I don't want you to be sad, but-- Chun Woo doesn't like maple syrup. Only fake maple syrup.

*sigh*

And I a quasi-Canadian.

[redbird]

That's more for me, and he can have some other kind of syrup, or jam (orange marmalade works too).

[emceeaich]

Given the criminal negligence displayed by Federal, State, Parish, and City governments during Katrina, I'm not surprised that Bloomberg is trying to demonstrate some level of preparedness.

[necturus.livejournal.com]

They're shutting the subway down? That's outrageous.

I suppose they must be worried about flooding in the tunnels.

[redbird]

Jeff Masters at Weather Underground was giving a 20% chance of a storm surge overtopping the Manhattan seawall and swamping the tunnels. The MTA say they're worried about operating elevated lines in high winds, but in the past they've dealt with that by shutting down specific lines (the 7 Flushing train, for example) or the elevated parts of lines that are partly underground.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

See, yeah, I'd much prefer the more conservative approach, there, because it seems saner to have it /available/ for emergencies than /not/. (Not that I'm a New Yorker, but hey, kibbitzing is a hobby.)

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I also think the powers that be are over-reacting. I can see shutting the subways down, but that far ahead seems absurd. Although this way we can plan, and it prevents people going somewhere away from home and getting stuck. Still...

However, the subway closing meant the academy officially decided today that no one will come in to work tomorrow, so I am spared last-minute phone calls, dithering, and waking early when it turns out I don't have to.

When told the plan, I said that I'd spend the time making sure nothing is on the floor in the basement in case it floods. Also, I'll put the gazing ball and lawn chairs in the enclosed porch.

The storm rations I requested that Supergee get tomorrow morning are extra soda from CVS, an extra bag of broccoli florets, and extra tofu and blueberries for my standard brekkie.

or maybe not

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I just read (from the New Yorkers LJ community) that parts of Queens and low-lying areas are under mandatory evacuation! Either the city is really over-reacting or we're in for more fun than I had thought. Are you in the low-lying Zone A? We're further from the water and pretty high up, but we probably will spend hours cleaning up the basement and putting unattached outside items inside the garage and the screened-in porch.

Re: or maybe not

[redbird]

I'm not in any of the evacuation zones (a bit of Inwood is in zones B and C, nothing in A). What's in zone A in Manhattan is mostly landfill, including Battery Park City and the edges of Lower Manhattan.

I think the city is overreacting. They have never done this before, either this sort of mandatory evacuation (rather than "get out of this building, it's not stable") or announcing in advance that they're going to shut down the entire subway system.

Re: or maybe not

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

I think this is due to not adequately preparing for last year's blizzard. People in Queens, my mother included, were trapped in their buildings for days by the snow. When the snow melted, her building was flooded and she sustained personal property damage.

I would rather have her be paranoid, evacuate early, and stay with me, so I KNOW where she is. Of course she is stubborn and won't listen, insisting she remain in her risky neighborhood. If evacuation is mandatory, is some official going to drag her out?

Re: or maybe not

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Here in the DC area, pretty much everyone went home after the earthquake and we found that the evacuation plans are crud.

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, pretty much every university in this city was scheduled to have students move in in droves on Sunday, and all of that has been cancelled. And student housing is being preemptively evacuated for those who have already moved in--sometimes even if it's not in Zone A. Serious clusterfuck, and for what, really?

Over on Facebook I keep reading "I have bought [insert grocery list] in preparation for the hurricane." For my part, I've made sure there's beer and water--but what else do I really need, you know?

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Something solid to prevent the pain that comes from the sides of your stomach rubbing together really does help, and enough calories to support whatever your physical activity level is going to be, but that and water is plenty for a few days.

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks, but I'm not a complete idiot... I had my tongue firmly in my cheek. I have plenty of nonperishables on hand, of course.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

You've probably read this elsewhere by now, but the reason that the train systems were shut down so early is that it takes a *very long time* to completely mothball the MTA. It was expected that Irene's landfall could come as early as midnight. (It actually came about eight hours later.)

The difficulty of the shutdown was compounded by not wanting to store trains in flooding-prone low-lying railyards, so they needed unused tunnels that they could stash about 2000 train-cars in.