Hurricane Sandy/Frankenstorm

[pk500]

F308:

Here's a bit of perspective for you about Sandy:

"We're looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people," said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

That's just a smidge more people than Mobile. Just a wee smidge.

And I know it breaks your Dixie-fried, longhorned heart to admit it, but the ramifications to the U.S. economy are FAR more severe if business -- especially the stock and commodities exchanges -- shuts down in Manhattan for a week than if the Brookley Aeroplex or ThyssenKrupp are shuttered in Mobile through Friday.

[Feanor]

I'm in Middletown, Delaware. Went to the beach yesterday morning to secure some stuff at our beach place, and picked up a generator on the way home. We made it through Irene without losing power, but something's telling me we won't be so lucky this time.

All the portable generators were sold out in Wilmington on Friday night.

[Diablo25]

I heard the local Cabelas had 1000 generators yesterday morning...none by the end of the day.

[wco81]

Are there usually hurricanes this late in the year in the Southeast?

[MizzouRah]

Everyone please be SAFE!

[Rodster]

Are there usually hurricanes this late in the year in the Southeast?

They're not as likely to hit South Florida but they are possible. Hurricane season for us is not over till late November. What I am seeing is more crap churning in the Gulf which up until the last 15 years was not very common. The Gulf has definitely gotten warmer.

[GB_Simo]

Hoping the storm passes you all by quickly and without drama. Stay safe, boys.

[GameSeven]

Atlantic City is underwater

[10spro]

I guess the media is not exaggerating after all...Was just listening to the news where if you thought that electricity may affect you by a week, you would be considered fortunate as many people would be without it for weeks.

[Naples39]

It's kind of weird in Philly. The city is kind of a ghost town as everyone is hunkered down, but just light rain and a little breeze so far. Eerie.

[Jared]

Our backyard is underwater - but no basement flooding yet. And fortunately, no power outages - I figure we'll be good until the hurricane-force winds come in tonight.

[pk500]

Wind has really started to pick up here in Syracuse in just the last hour.

[Gangrel]

Stay safe boys.

Up here in Ottawa we are supposed to get a bit of rain from Sandy, and supposedly tonight into tomorrow get some heavy wind gusts, though nothing what you will get. It just freaks me out that we are feeling a bit of the effects here already, and it's still far away.

Southern Ontario though has tons of warnings in effect......

[XXXIV]

Looks like it might get pretty rough.

Stay safe guys.

[Rodster]

Stay safe boys.

Up here in Ottawa we are supposed to get a bit of rain from Sandy, and supposedly tonight into tomorrow get some heavy wind gusts, though nothing what you will get. It just freaks me out that we are feeling a bit of the effects here already, and it's still far away.

Southern Ontario though has tons of warnings in effect......

I was living in Jacksonville when Hurricane Charlie came up the State. Let me tell you that 65MPH wind gusts gets your attention real kick.

[RallyMonkey]

Man alive it is not pretty here. In southeastern CT right on Long Island sound and had to evacuate this morning. Praying my house is still standing when I get back. Of course that's IF I can get back.

[RobVarak]

Some info from weather nerd/Chicago icon Tom Skilling:

Hybrid storm Sandy is one for the books! Historic, life-threatening flooding underway in Mid-Atlantic. Gusts have hit 71 mph in NYC & 84 mph on Long Island. Trees down/power's out & structural damage reported all over the region. Storm to establish all-time record low barometric pressure readings: NJ, NYC, PA & DE. Water up to the roofs of cars Suffolk CO, NY. Atlantic City & much of the Jersey Shore reporting serious flooding. Sandy's barometer MUCH lower than Oct '91's Perfect Storm---940 mb 27.76" versus 972mb 28.70". It's the first hurricane to sweep into NJ from SE since 1803. Worst NYC/NJ winds since the Snow Hurricane of 1804.

[snaz16]

Stay safe boys.

Up here in Ottawa we are supposed to get a bit of rain from Sandy, and supposedly tonight into tomorrow get some heavy wind gusts, though nothing what you will get. It just freaks me out that we are feeling a bit of the effects here already, and it's still far away.

Southern Ontario though has tons of warnings in effect......

I was living in Jacksonville when Hurricane Charlie came up the State. Let me tell you that 65MPH wind gusts gets your attention real kick.

The storm is moving pretty fast at 28 mph,so hopefully this will minimize wind damage. Storm surge looks like this will be the problem. We took the brunt of Charley here in Punta Gorda,with winds between 145 - 155 mph. Power was out for 2 weeks. Fla. Power & Light has already sent several crews heading north. I've got family in south Jersey,hope they and all you guys in the path are safe.

[F308GTB]

F308:

Here's a bit of perspective for you about Sandy:

"We're looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people," said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

That's just a smidge more people than Mobile. Just a wee smidge.

And I know it breaks your Dixie-fried, longhorned heart to admit it, but the ramifications to the U.S. economy are FAR more severe if business -- especially the stock and commodities exchanges -- shuts down in Manhattan for a week than if the Brookley Aeroplex or ThyssenKrupp are shuttered in Mobile through Friday.

Paul, all the best to you all up there, honestly. But East Coast media bias really did/is driving the story - the storm is in their back yard and every network. Any potential or actual significant damage and loss of life deserves equal attention be it NYC, Mobile, Seattle, or Vail.

Looks like this is a fast moving storm, which is a good thing. Where it could get MUCH worse is for someone like you. If it slows down when it heads north, that will be bad news for your neck of the woods with a lot of flooding. If coastal areas can withstand the winds, it boils down to he first few miles inland with flooding/surge. But no significant impact to large population areas of DC, Baltimore, Philly, etc so the impact on

Based on how the market has been behaving the last few weeks, a few days break would be a good thing And could this be an even greater surge in electronic trading and perhaps some of the recent criticism of e-trades?

Hurricanes are never a positive thing. A Gulf storm is a major economic impact due to the shutdown of offshore oil riggs. When Ike came through a couple of years ago, gas production was down for several days causing nationwide increases in gas prices, millions without power for several days, hundreds of thousands without power for weeks, people out of work for a week+ including the petrochem industry which can go toe-to-toe with the NY financial sector. To put things in perspective, Irene racked up about $15 billion in damages; Ike came in at around twice that. Given the impacts to NYC, it looks like this one could be somewhere between - expect a bump in economic activity in the coming months.

I will say the coverage of Manhattan is eerily similar to what we experienced years ago with a slow moving tropical storm (again, it's the rain particularly if slow moving that is the bigger problem). Flooding in places you wouldn't think of which caused unthinkable problems.

[pk500]

Paul, all the best to you all up there, honestly. But East Coast media bias really did/is driving the story - the storm is in their back yard and every network. Any potential or actual significant damage and loss of life deserves equal attention be it NYC, Mobile, Seattle, or Vail.

That's a quaint, admirable notion. Right up there with paying regular working stiffs the same as pro athletes because they work just as hard.

But you honestly think East Coast media bias is driving coverage of the largest hurricane to hit the Northeast in a century, a storm that has lower barometric pressure than "The Perfect Storm" of 1991? I was about to say you probably think the Moon landing was staged in Hollywood, but then I remembered that you work for NASA.

Seriously, dude, this is a storm of epic proportions that's wreaking havoc on the largest city in North America. Sorry to say, but a bit of coverage fatigue is natural for recurring natural disasters, such as forest fires in the West, smaller hurricanes in the Gulf and lower Atlantic, and blizzards in the Northeast.

But a hurricane that has brought all-time record flooding to New York? That's not East Coast media bias: That is a major global event.

Check the website covers of major global papers or TV networks tonight: They're all leading with Sandy. BBC? Check. Al Jazeera? Check. The Guardian (London)? Check. Le Monde (Paris)? Check. El Pais (Madrid)? Check. NHK (Japan)? Check. Bild (Germany)? Check. RT (Russia)? Check. The Star (Johannesburg)? Check.

I suppose the rest of the world's media suffers from that same East Coast bias.

[pk500]

By the way, this is flood water pouring into Ground Zero tonight:

[DChaps]

Good luck and stay safe to all of you suffering through this. Scary stuff.

[Naples39]

Well, I don't want to speak too soon, but Philly has almost completely dodged the storm. Rained all day (but never too severely), gusty winds, but nothing too unusual. Watching the satellite all day, we've been in this pocket getting little severe weather, while northern VA, central and western PA, the jersey shore, Boston and NY get slammed. I've never had the lights so much as flicker today, and walked to the convenient store and picked up a pizza for dinner. Only concern will be winds and flooding over night.

Also, some crazy pictures (purportedly) of lower manhattan tonight.

[pk500]

Water reported up to the rooftops of one-story homes on the coastline of Staten Island. Nutso. Rescue workers reportedly are plucking people off roofs, Katrina-style.

[dbdynsty25]

Water reported up to the rooftops of one-story homes on the coastline of Staten Island. Nutso. Rescue workers reportedly are plucking people off roofs, Katrina-style.

Not to make light of it but hopefully the jersey shore dudes were picked up off a roof. That would be highly amusing.