Hurricane Irene becomes tropical storm: does little to New York

The mighty have fallen. “Hurricane” Irene was downgraded to a 60 mph tropical storm and while many in the city had stocked up on supplies to ride out the storm, newspapers reported that people were out at 9am walking their dogs and by 10am, the sun was breaking through the clouds. It would seem that Irene had turned into a non event. There was some flooding but nothing on par with the expected destruction from a hurricane.

Nevertheless, there are stories of others who were less fortunate. 15 people were reportedly killed along the seaboard as Irene swept through. North Carolina saw the death of an 11-year-old boy died when a tree fell through the roof of his house. In Maryland, a chimney fell through the ceiling of a house and crushed a woman. A surfer in New Smyrna Beach, Florida succumbed to the 10-foot waves he had hoped to enjoy, while a New Jersey woman drowned in her car after becoming stuck on a flooded road.

An estimated four million homes and businesses across the region were left without power.

ABC is offering an up-to-date map of the storm, Storm Tracker, which now labels Irene as a tropical storm.

Canada

Eastern Canada will feel the storm on Monday however, with today’s downgrade from hurricane to tropical storm; it is felt that some flooding will be the worst of it. The Canadian Hurricane Centre is issuing storm warnings throughout the Atlantic Provinces.

Published on Aug 28, 2011 by AssociatedPress

Bloomberg: NYC Evacuees Can Soon Return Home

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says residents who had been ordered out of their homes in low-lying areas will be allowed to return Sunday afternoon. Bloomberg called for more than 370,000 people to evacuate ahead of the storm. (Aug. 28)

References

Wikipedia: Hurricane Irene (2011)

Hurricane Irene is an active Atlantic hurricane that inflicted extensive damage to many Caribbean nations, and is currently threatening the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada. The ninth named storm and both the first hurricane and major hurricane of the 2011 season, Irene formed from a well-defined Atlantic tropical wave, which showed signs of organization east of the Lesser Antilles. It developed atmospheric convection and a closed cyclonic circulation center, prompting the National Hurricane Center to initiate public advisories on the tropical cyclone late on August 20. Subsequent convective organization occurred as it passed the Leeward Islands, and by August 21 it moved very close to Saint Croix. The next day Irene made landfall near Puerto Rico, where high winds and intermittent torrents caused significant property damage.

New York and New England

The Hudson River flooded, starting at approximately 8:50 a.m., into Zone B as well as Zone A, mostly the Meatpacking District, along the Hudson River in Manhattan. At 9:15, the northern end of the Holland Tunnel closed. As of 9:20, the flooding was at about a foot deep. Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm at about 9:00 a.m. on August 28. Storm surge from Hurricane Irene in Greenwich, Connecticut. Southern New England was also affected by the storm, with surges along the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound.

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