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JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Hurricane Irene shuts down New York

World Aug. 28, 2011 - 03:45PM JST ( 23 )

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23 Comments

-4

AsagaoAug. 28, 2011 - 12:12PM JST

I guess another Katrina mess who not be good for his re election campaign.
0

globalwatcherAug. 28, 2011 - 01:35PM JST

DE has just hit by both Harricane and Tornado.
1

paulinusaAug. 28, 2011 - 02:07PM JST

Katrina? Not even close. This is a big storm, but I'm guessing (and I live in the affected area) that post hurricane this will be less than what was expected.
4

smithinjapanAug. 28, 2011 - 02:09PM JST

Asagao: "I guess another Katrina mess who not be good for his re election campaign."

'ANOTHER' Katrina mess for HIS campaign. Ummm... not to burst your bubble, but under whose administration did Katrina occur?

That said, while I think some of the prep is overkill, I'd much rather see people overly prepared than not prepared at all like GWB with Katrina, then abandoning the poor while rescuing only the rich after the fact. It's going to cost a LOT of money -- this shut down -- but better to safe than sorry.
1

lostrune2Aug. 28, 2011 - 02:21PM JST

The world's most extensive subway system, open 24/7, shutdown entirely for the first time against a hurricane...... Must be serious....... Well, though I don't think it'll be as bad as expected, as people say better be safe than sorry...............
0

SamuraiBlueAug. 28, 2011 - 05:10PM JST

Tokyo probably gets hit by a Typhoon like that every 3~5 years or so and I have not heard of a complete shut down of trains during those times.
0

lostrune2Aug. 28, 2011 - 06:21PM JST

The hurricane has graded down to Category 1, but the main issue may not be the gale force wind as much as that, since it's so huge and it's so slow-moving that it's expected to dump a lot of rain for a lot of hours, completely saturating the ground several times over a large area, compound that with the upcoming new moon a.k.a. high tides, winds blowing onshore pushing all that storm-surge water into already-saturated land, with nowhere for all that extra water to go but accumulate - thus flooding low-lying areas like downtown Manhattan and of course the underground subways.

Then of course, if they also lose electricity...........
-2

BreitbartVictoriousAug. 28, 2011 - 06:38PM JST

smithinjapan

I'd much rather see people overly prepared than not prepared at all like GWB with Katrina,

LOL. Disaster prep is first and foremost the duty of local and state officials. Louisiana's were mostly Dems and that is why they got thrown out after Katrina.
-4

Spidapig24Aug. 28, 2011 - 06:53PM JST

Its sad isnt it, the officials in the affected areas manage to put all these plans, evacuations etc in place in a short time frame for this hurricane and yet here is Japan 5 months down the track still struggling to deal with its natural and man made disasters and they still cant get their act together. And whats the bet that with a typhoon currently heading this way we get another report of TEPCO rushing to secure their disaster area against the approaching typhoon. Anyone care for a wager?
0

CarcharodonAug. 28, 2011 - 07:17PM JST

A surfer and another beachgoer in Florida were killed in heavy waves. oh boy get out the Darwins boys.

on a more serious note, hope the predicted flooding of lower Manhattan doesn't eventuate..
0

nstn123Aug. 28, 2011 - 08:42PM JST

I'm glad the storm weakened. Hopefully things will go well until the end of the storm.
-3

SmorkianAug. 28, 2011 - 09:41PM JST

Disaster prep is first and foremost the duty of local and state officials.

Go ask ex-PM Kan if he agrees with that one...
0

TorafusuTorasanAug. 28, 2011 - 09:48PM JST

Prep is fine, but the real test is what happens in the days after a hurricane.

Katrina's aftermath was botched by bad apple police officers from NO and out of state (e.g. Arizona) shooting unarmed people and covering it up. Over the years, literally dozens of police were fired, some imprisoned, and millions in settlement money paid to the vicitims.

Even Bush said in the first week of the aftermath that the relief effort was not going well. That always gets overshadowed by his praise of Brownie for doing a heck of a job. I remember being surprised by how frank he was about the mismanagement of the disaster, since at the same time Bush didn't have much criticism for anybody about how the Iraq aftermath was evolving.
-1

Taka313Aug. 28, 2011 - 10:18PM JST

Paulinusa,

I live in the affected area too. How did you get hit? We lost electricity over night and there are a few trees down but that's about it. How did you fare?

Taka
1

paulinusaAug. 28, 2011 - 11:17PM JST

Taka: Was at the Jersey shore until Sat. when I returned to North Jersey. My friends at the shore have lost power and there's some major beach erosion, but not the worst conditions. My home in the north is unaffected.
1

FadamorAug. 29, 2011 - 12:11AM JST

Nothing much here. We got about 2.5 inches of rain and the wind gusts peaked out at 33 mph. Sun just came out 30 miles SW of D.C.

Death toll reached 10 overnight. Only spots of Manhattan were flooded and from the video those spots appear to be only under a foot or so of water.
2

smithinjapanAug. 29, 2011 - 02:39AM JST

Samurai Blue: "Tokyo probably gets hit by a Typhoon like that every 3~5 years or so and I have not heard of a complete shut down of trains during those times."

Precisely! It's expected here and so the buildings and infrastructure are built with that in mind -- it is NOT typical for hurricanes, especially one as massive as this one was, to hit NYC. Same with the earthquake last week -- VERY unusual, and the buildings are not built with the specs that buildings in an area with regular earthquakes are built with.

Breitbart: "Disaster prep is first and foremost the duty of local and state officials. Louisiana's were mostly Dems and that is why they got thrown out after Katrina."

The usual excuses, I see.
-1

Taka313Aug. 29, 2011 - 04:34AM JST

Paulinusa and Fadamor,

Glad to see you both made it through OK. New Jersey really got it. I heard of a few tornados touching down overnight, wreaking some carnage.

Be well.

Taka
1

pamelotAug. 29, 2011 - 07:52AM JST

I'd much rather see people overly prepared than not prepared at all like GWB with Katrina

Mayor Bloomberg shut down NYC, not Pres. Obama, who was vacationing on Martha's Vineyard.

The States are in charge of themselves, and must ask for Federal help, when needed.

The East Coast States all took precautions for Irene, a category 1 storm.

Blanco and Nagin were responsible for their State, and City.

Their lack of response, to a category 5 storm, combined with underlying "levee issues" were a big factor in the result.

Typical, seeing all the blame shifted to GWB.
0

NessieAug. 29, 2011 - 08:08AM JST

Pamelot has a point about the states having primary responsibility, although Bush's cronyism didn't help matters.
-2

BreitbartVictoriousAug. 29, 2011 - 11:10AM JST

Definite Dukakis Moment: the president seated at the Hurricane Center, behind an official NOAA name plate emblazoned with "Barack Obama President of the United States" for the big photo op.
1

TorafusuTorasanAug. 29, 2011 - 09:29PM JST

Pamelot and Breitbart,

Just wishing you were a little more honest in your explanation of Hurricane Katrina.

Before the storm struck, Ray Nagin made the unprecedented move to order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. He was reelected mayor of NO a year after Katrina. He stayed in office a couple of years longer than Bush, until term limits (not voter anger) caused him to vacate office.

Damage from the storm was not limited to Lousiana. A couple hundred Mississippians died as well. Let's hear the names of the responsible local politicians as long as you are listing names. It's going to be a long list because all 82 counties in Mississippi got themselves declared disaster areas to tap into federal relief funds.

Sure there were "levee issues" related to work by the Army Corps of Engineers, but what about the decades long reduction of massive areas of southern Lousiana marshland that was not there to provide a storm buffer?

We're not putting all the blame on Bush, but just setting the record straight after the very first person to post called Irene "another Katrina mess." Yes, it's another hurricane, but to think that Irene is anywhere near Katrina was begging for a retort.

Bush put the head of one of the newest federal agencies, the Department of Homeland Security, in charge of Katrina relief. That person, Michael Chertoff, appointed a guy named Michael Brown who (like Pamelot and Breitbart) started taking potshots at Gov. Blanco and gotten taken off the job only a week and a day after Katrina hit.
-1

Taka313Aug. 29, 2011 - 10:03PM JST

TorafusaTorasan with the win.

Facts are something breitbart has a little issue with.

Taka