New York to shut entire subway system Saturday as Irene approaches
The entire New York City transit system has been ordered to start shutting down at noon on Saturday because of the threat of a massive, powerful Hurricane Irene.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Friday afternoon declared all subways, buses and commuter trains would stop running. As well, if winds topped 100 kilometres per hour, all bridges around New York City and five Hudson River bridges would be shut down.
More than 900 soldiers with the U.S. Army and Air National Guard were ordered to provide backup to emergency crews already getting ready for the worst-case scenarios from Irene.
“We have moved quickly to initiate our emergency plans, to work with our federal and local partners, and to identify, prepare, and put into place one of the most aggressive activations of New York State government ever assembled in the face of a possible natural disaster,” Cuomo said.
“We are fully committed and we are preparing for the worst.”
About 19 million people live in and around New York City, which is in the direct path of a storm that is now 1,300 kilometres wide.
Earlier, Metropolitan Transit Authority chairman Jay Walder had said the safety of passengers and staff could not be guaranteed on city transit if winds exceeded 62.76 kph.
Closing down the vast network used by 8 million people a day would take at least eight hours, he said earlier. The hurricane is expected to hit Saturday night and into Sunday.
For the first time in the city’s history, people in specific low-lying areas were ordered to evacuate. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made the announcement at a 2 p.m. news conference and gave them until 5 p.m. Saturday to get out.
He also said the transit system “may or may not” be back up by rush hour Monday morning. Walder said transit crews would secure tunnels and equipment after the riders were out.
“We’ve never done a mandatory evacuation before and we wouldn’t be doing it now if we didn’t think this storm was serious,” Bloomberg said. “You have to start your preparations to leave right now.”
He advised New Yorkers to “stay inside Sunday.”
Police will patrol evacuation areas Saturday with loudspeakers, Bloomberg said. “If you don’t follow this, people might die.”
Winds will be pulling trees down across transit tracks, said Walder. “We’re worried a lot about” tunnels flooding with sea water.
“The period after the story is going to be difficult.”
Casinos in Atlantic City shut down Friday and thousands of people from North Carolina to New Jersey were packing their cars and moving north and west away from Irene.
“All indications point to this being an historic hurricane,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where he is on vacation.
“If you’re in the way of this hurricane, you should be preparing now.”
More than a half-million people have signed up to follow advisories and warnings from the U.S. government on Facebook.
Click here to follow Irene on the Weather Channel’s Hurricane Tracker
New York media published evacuation zone maps in case Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the order Saturday or Sunday for low-lying coastal areas.
The chief fears were of damage from a storm surge, when winds whip up waves and build a wall of sea water as high as 20 feet.
The mayors of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., urged homeowners to pick up sandbags Friday to protect their property.
In the U.S. capital, each household was entitled to five sandbags, with pick up starting at noon, Mayor Vincent Gray announced. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake launched sandbag distribution Thursday afternoon.
The NOAA Hurricane Research Division rated Irene’s storm and wave potential 4.8 out of 6, or the equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane.
Irene was scheduled to hit land in North Carolina on Saturday afternoon and rip north through cities and towns filled with 65 million people into Sunday.
“You could see the eye wall and down into the eye itself. You know that is a powerful storm,” said U.S. astronaut Mike Fossum from the International Space Station in an interview with Space.com
North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Connecticut declared states of emergency.
“This could be a 100-year event,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said.
“This is a large, this is a deadly, this a slow-moving hurricane that is bearing down on the State of Maryland,” Gov. Martin O’Malley said Thursday evening.
When the hurricane hits, Bloomberg warned New Yorkers, “stay out of parks … and, incidentally, it’s a good idea of stay out of your own backyard if you have trees there.”
New York City was moving people out of nursing homes and a hospital near the water, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.
If Irene tears down power lines or flood power sources, people could be without electricity for a week or more, warned Federal Emergency Management Authority administrator Craig Fugate.
Amtrak cancelled train service south of Washington, D.C. for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Trains on the busy Boston-to-Washington corridor would be cancelled on the weekend if necessary, the rail company said.
The auto train from Florida to Virginia, as well as trains to Miami, Tampa, Cary, N.C. and Savannah, Georgia, were affected.
People in the New Jersey casino town of Atlantic City were ordered to start leaving at 6 a.m. Friday.
Mandatory evacuations for Cape May County on New Jersey’s southern tip began Thursday night. Tolls on bridges and the Garden State Parkway were lifted to move people more quickly.
People in the coastal town of Norfolk, Va., were ordered to leave as of Saturday morning.
The U.S. Navy, which has a base there, moved 27 ships, including an aircraft carrier, and three submarines, out to sea to avoid the storm. Another 28 ships were moved to sheltered areas.
The Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax says Irene’s strength is expected to diminish as it moves into the Atlantic provinces and eastern Quebec, but the storm is still expected to pack a mean punch.
The centre says it’s too early to predict where the heaviest rain and strongest winds will occur because Irene’s track continues to change.
