NWS Advises New York City To Begin Preparing Now For Hurricanes - Reuters

NEW YORK - A hurricane with only moderate intensity could wreak havoc in New York City because it has been years since the nation's financial center faced severe weather, government forecasters warned Tuesday.

"The first time we get hit here with a Category 2, it's going to be disastrous," said meteorologist Michael Wyllie of the National Weather Service, referring to the scale used to rate hurricane strength. Wyllie said powerful storms have missed New York in recent years, unlike parts of the Gulf Coast, where periodic storms "thin out the trees and the buildings."

Gloria, the last big storm to hit the New York area, caused about US$900 million in economic losses along the East Coast in 1985, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"It's not like we can all run down to Home Depot and pick up these two-by-fours to board up windows," said John Koch, lead forecaster at the NWS forecast office in New York. "What we want people to do is know what they are going to do with their family and their pets." Koch urged residents to familiarize themselves with the location of evacuation zones and make plans to have extra dry clothes, medicines, batteries, water and copies of valuable documents.


EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36290/story.htm

n/t

http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/readynewyork/hazard_hurricane_history.html

Gets a hit (or near miss) a lot more often than I thought...

...by about one minute.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/readynewyork/hazard_hurricane_history.html

FELIX
Hurricane Felix lingered off the East Coast for nearly a week in 1995, menacing the northeastern US before it finally drifted out to sea.

BERTHA
A weakening Tropical Storm Bertha brought heavy rain to the City in July 1996.

EDOUARD
Hurricane Eduoard veered out to sea after tracking toward New York City around Labor Day 1996.

FLOYD
In September 1999, Tropical Storm Floyd brought sustained 60 mph winds and dumped 10-15 inches of rain on upstate New Jersey and New York State over a 24-hour period.

sponsored by Kay Bailey Hutchison, and signed into law in October 2005.

Read it.