CBS NEWS
(http://m.cbsnews.com/fullstory.rbml?catid=20097872&feed_id=0&videofeed=36)
August 26, 2011
NEW YORK - As Hurricane Irene rumbles steadily closer to New York City, some evacuations have already begun, CBS News station WCBS-TV reports.
Staten Island University Hospital and Coney Island Hospital have begun evacuating patients to vacant beds at medical centers on higher ground. NYU Hospitals Center and Veterans Administration Medical Center are the other hospitals in the evacuation zone, according to the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered some of those hospitals, nursing homes and senior centers in the most flood-prone areas of the city to be evacuated by 8 p.m. ET Friday.
If those facilities choose not to evacuate, they would need to coordinate their decisions in conjunction with city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, Bloomberg said.
At Staten Island University Hospital, the evacuation began Thursday night. The first ones out: Newborns in the neonatal unit, who were taken to Cohen Children's Hospital in Lake Success, Long Island, the Staten Island Advance reported.
The Staten Island hospital was scheduled to begin the evacuation of its general population Friday morning. Patients will be discharged when possible or sent to a variety of other hospitals and nursing homes that are part of the North Shore-LIJ system. That includes hospitals in Manhassaet, Plainview, Syosset and Huntington on Long Island, the Advance reported.
"What we have to do is assume the worst, prepare for that, and hope for the best," Bloomberg said in statement to reporters Thursday evening.
Bloomberg also revoked all permits for planned outdoor events Sunday, when the worst of Irene's wrath is expected to hit the area.
The World Trade Center construction site in lower Manhattan is also making preparations for Irene. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it is securing all cranes and construction gear at the site.
Also, New York City Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri has inspectors checking construction sites throughout the city for debris and loose material.
Urban planner and architect Lance Jay Brown said the scaffolding that adorns New York City sidewalks should be secure if it has been built to code specifications. Air conditioners should also hold in place. The greatest danger is from loose materials that could be turned into projectiles in the howling wind.
Windows above the 10th floor are at greatest risk of shattering. Terrace furniture and other loose things on rooftops could be dangerous.
Irene actually weakened a bit overnight, dropping to a Category 2 storm. That means it is packing winds of up to 110 mph. It is still barreling toward North Carolina. It is possible that it will gather strength again.
By the time Irene hits New York, it is expected to bring at least tropical storm-force winds of at least 75-90 mph and up to 7-10 inches of rain.
Metropolitan Transit Authority chairman Jay Walder said he would consider shutting the entire New York City transit system down, which includes the city's subway and commuter rail systems, if winds exceed 39 mph.
"What we have here is a storm with projected winds that would exceed the level at which the MTA can safely operate services," Walder said.
It would take at least eight hours to shut everything down.
Meanwhile, New York City residents in flood-prone areas like Battery Park City are doing what they can to prepare for Hurricane Irene.
Battery Park City resident Susan Bridges lived through one disaster and she doesn't want to go through another.
"I was here during 9/11 and the aftermath of that was a little bit crazy," she said.
That's why she's packing up her car and heading upstate to stay with friends.
"It's time to get out," she told WCBS-AM reporter Peter Haskell.
She fears a worst case scenario.
"If things are very bad, this place will be completely and totally unlivable and people will be dead," she said.
With that, she got in her car and headed north.
In low-lying Laurelton, Queens, residents are also getting ready.
"I'm going to take everything that's plastic outside, chairs, tables and pack them away ... clean up the yard so debris doesn't fly all over the place," resident Byron Reed said.
"In my area, the basement normally gets flooded, so I'm going in to lift everything up," Halley Gray told WCBS-AM's Rich Lamb. His plan next? "Just sit down and wait. Get some groceries and be a New Yorker."
"I've always had a standard kit in the back of the car," neighbor Caroline Towns said. "Medication, water, gas, of course."
And if things get really bad?
"Well I have my swim things back there," Towns joked. "I'm ready to go."
Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário