US East Coast weather fun ahead

[Tale]

Bloomberg's ASL interpreter

We've done that. We're on to the apocalypse.

[Sheepherder]

Nothing's clearing water in this amount except time.

FDNY has 341 (engines and ladders) each of which can lift water 6-10 feet and perform at rated capacity (1000-2250 US GPM for a single stage pump, up to 3000 for a multi-stage).  Less if they have to lift higher, although I suspect FDNY has very few 1000 GPM apparatus.  Also, they don't need proper fire flows at the nozzle end.  So, if they tasked literally every fire truck to draining the subways it would take ~20 hours even if on average you assume the lower end of that spectrum.

Of course, I imagine a significant number are busy doing other things.

[01101010]

Nothing's clearing water in this amount except time.

FDNY has 341 (engines and ladders) each of which can lift water 6-10 feet and perform at rated capacity (1000-2250 US GPM for a single stage pump, up to 3000 for a multi-stage).  Less if they have to lift higher, although I suspect FDNY has very few 1000 GPM apparatus.  Also, they don't need proper fire flows at the nozzle end.  So, if they tasked literally every fire truck to draining the subways it would take ~20 hours even if on average you assume the lower end of that spectrum.

Of course, I imagine a significant number are busy doing other things.

The real question is, can they pump seawater? I would think that would muck things up in short order when seals and hoses begin to start leaking.

[Merusk]

Not just seawater but sand and small debris are an issue as well.  Fire trucks don't just suck up pond water and shoot it.  The hydrant system uses domestic water which means the pumps aren't designed to worry about random shit running through them.

[Ghambit]

Bloomberg's ASL interpreter

We've done that. We're on to the apocalypse.

Yup!  And more DOOOOOMCasting!

Nothing's clearing water in this amount except time.

FDNY has 341 (engines and ladders) each of which can lift water 6-10 feet and perform at rated capacity (1000-2250 US GPM for a single stage pump, up to 3000 for a multi-stage).  Less if they have to lift higher, although I suspect FDNY has very few 1000 GPM apparatus.  Also, they don't need proper fire flows at the nozzle end.  So, if they tasked literally every fire truck to draining the subways it would take ~20 hours even if on average you assume the lower end of that spectrum.

Of course, I imagine a significant number are busy doing other things.

I think Darniaq's point was that even when pumped only time will completely remove the water.  Water infilatration is total in this situation.  Like flooding your house, the carpet, drywall, and electricals must be replaced.  It's no different for the NYC subway.  And all that takes lots of time.  Then the mold/mildew sets in.

Latest pics I've seen are showing huge backlogs in the working subways.  Worse than Tokyo.

[Lantyssa]

If it is the end of the world, I just as well talk more about Lydia Callis.

[Numtini]

As per NPR, once the tunnels are empty, they still need to walk through and verify every single sensor, switch, and light for managing traffic.

[Sheepherder]

The real question is, can they pump seawater? I would think that would muck things up in short order when seals and hoses begin to start leaking.

Not just seawater but sand and small debris are an issue as well.  Fire trucks don't just suck up pond water and shoot it.  The hydrant system uses domestic water which means the pumps aren't designed to worry about random shit running through them.

Ugly. Hideous. Running tapwrong. (Which is to say, yes, you can do these things, it's just so very wrong to have little bits or funny colours shooting out your fog nozzle.)

Debris isn't an issue because they're centrifugal pumps, just like regular trash pumps.  Sand wears on them eventually, but it's nowhere near catastrophic failure inducing, and I imagine getting the subways drained is fairly high on the list of priorities.  Saltwater isn't an issue, the pump impeller and casing are brass, and there's a zinc anode inside for good measure.

The water table being messed up is a point for considering, though you can move water a long distance very efficiently as long as you're more concerned with volume than pressure, and if the sewer system is intact and not plugged it's a non-issue.  You can also daisy-chain trucks together if you're willing to fuck around getting the two pumps flowing the same volume (the fire college in Ontario insists on including it as part of the curriculum despite none of the instructors ever having applied the skill in a real situation). Not having enough hose would be a potential problem.

[Miasma]

I think the people involved in the angry water compression and guns slapfight should weigh in on these issues.  

[Pennilenko]

No

[Surlyboi]

Chelsea seems to be back up on the grid. The rest of SoPo should be done by Saturday

[Venkman]

Buddy of mine carting his family from near Brunswick to Maryland today for the weekend. Every third vehicle he passed on the Turnpike was from some electric utility or another. That's four days after this blew through and they're still coming in droves.

As per NPR, once the tunnels are empty, they still need to walk through and verify every single sensor, switch, and light for managing traffic.

Yea. Various types of pumping and hauling equipment is gonna be needed here, and they can only be used in sequence. This is far beyond sump pumps here, multiplied by around 1,000 affected buildings and ConEd-only-knows all the tunnels and accessways beneath ground.

NYC doesn't have a lot of experience with this specific kind of disaster (surged seawater getting into everything). But I'll put them near the top of any list in the world that ranks cities by their ability to clean shit up and move it somewhere else. The geography of Manhatten island has required it for a long time.

Eastern parts of LI are starting to get back up, but my folks place and points west (Nassau and then Queens) are still spotty. More sporadic reports of gas siphoning and muggings, but that's largely depend on which network you're watching. Gas lines are reminding people of the 70s. Cops are starting to man stations.

LIPA continues with its own doomcasting on estimates. I can't blame them for that. They probably think it's accurate when they state it, and if it's faster, all the better. But people really need to get off the island if they have the means. Very little is reliable right now and it's getting into the 30s overnight this weekend with a freakin' Nor'easter possibly coming.

[Surlyboi]

Lower East Side is up, The rest of SoPo will be up by midnight.

And after a lot of complaining, the marathon has been cancelled.

[Ghambit]

Hopefully that speeds things up a bit.  My friend in Brooklyn spent half the day trying to get to work.

[Abagadro]

Lower East Side is up, The rest of SoPo will be up by midnight.

And after a lot of complaining, the marathon has been cancelled.

I guess that means only one Kenyan will be winning something this upcoming week.

 

[Surlyboi]

[Jimbo]

Being a former Vol Fireman, we used to draft from any and everything.  A creek, a swimming pool, a pond, a run off, a stream, a river, and we would set up water hauling from those areas.  Salt, fresh, clean, dirty, it doesn't matter as we can pump it.

[taolurker]

So, brief update on laptop battery. No power since 10:30 am on Monday. Storm hit us at 7:30 Monday night. So far not impacting me too horribly (compared to others near me.) Only today got to see many of the pictures of devastation I was only hearing about on transistor radio so far.

1 mile from my house, most of the town of Union Beach is underwater or washed away. The town I grew up in (Keyport, also 1 mile from me) had a new waterfront built 2 years ago that's been completely destroyed. Friend who was evacuated from North Middletown/Keansburg (2miles from me) still unable to get in to see how bad his house is. All of the Keansburg, Seaside and Point Pleasant boardwalks I used to enjoy as a kid are either heavily damaged (or washed away completely).

Sister (about 20 miles from me) had power back Thurs evening, power company estimated I'd have power by Wed of next week!! Atlantic City reopened yesterday, and some towns where half the place was washed away have power.

Lots of stupidity and fighting over gasoline, and was a warming/charging center set-up near me that was mobbed with people plugging their cel phones in (duh you don't own a car charger?), while I was there with my laptop. I'm accumulating a guide of Emergency tips, and survival techniques, that I will possibly post when I have the spare power and feel like venting.

Wish I could browse more of the forum and this thread, but battery power already draining too fast, but may be at charging station again tomorrow.

Lots of shit really messed up near me, and I hope some of the other Northeast F13ers are doing reasonably well.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, I'm hearing from a friend in NJ that they have been told, "no power until Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest" and there is no gasoline to be had near their house for love or money. She says that the local retail strip has power and that the Starbucks there is like a refugee camp of people powering up cell phones and laptops.

[Venkman]

My inlaws are saying gas companies have started trucking in about 8mil gallons to various stations over the next 3 days, with the hopes that it's back to normal gas-wise by Tuesday. According to my brother in law, a couple of gas stations hear him in southern Nassau have National Guard troops at them, fully armed (though likely assumed for no greater reason than a deterrent). No idea if that's county-wide, but pretty telling.

Old neighbors are saying some of the hype is media driven. To them people were fine until the media talked gas shortage and that's then everyone lined up. Even though none of those same people have actionally gone anywhere because so many places are still without power.

Mid Suffolk is starting to come back online. The LIPA estimates are lowering in some parts near Nassau.

[Sheepherder]

I'm accumulating a guide of Emergency tips, and survival techniques, that I will possibly post when I have the spare power and feel like venting.

Baked beans.  They require no additional water, it won't kill you eating them uncooked out of the can, they are a decent meat substitute, and cooking them is as easy as puncturing the lid and tossing the can into a bed of coals or atop a grill.

[Sky]

I like Louis CK. Just got this in the mail:

Hello.  Its louis here.  I'm clacking this to you on my phone in my dressing room here at studio 8H, right in 30 rockefeller center, in Manhattan, new york city, new york, america, world, current snapshot of all existence everywhere.

Tonight I'm hosting Saturday Night Live, something I zero ever in my life saw happening to me. And yet here it is completely most probably happening (I mean, ANYTHING could NOT happen.  So we'll see).

I've been working here all week with the cast, crew, producers and writers of SNL, and with Lorne Michaels. Such a great and talented group of people.

And here we are in the middle of New York City, which was just slammed by a hurricane, leaving behind so much trouble, so much difficulty and trauma, which everyone here is still dealing with every day.

Last night we shot some pre-tape segments in greenwich Village, which was pitch black dark for blocks and blocks, as it has been for a week now.

Its pretty impossible to describe walking through these city streets in total darkness.  It can't even be called a trip through time, because as long as new york has lived, its been lit. By electricity, gas lamps, candlelight, kerosene.  But this was pitch black, street after street, corner round corner. And for me, the village being the very place that made me into a comedian and a man, to walk through the heart of it and feel like, in a way, it was dead.   I can't tell you how that felt.  And you also had a palpable sense that inside each dark window was a family or a student or an artist or an old woman living alone, just being int he dark and waiting for the day to come back. Like we were all having one big sleep over, but not so much fun as that.

This is how a lot of the city is still.  I know people in queens, brooklyn, Staten Island, new jersey, all over, are not normal yet.  And not normal is hard.

And here at 30 rock, these folks are working so hard this week.  There are kids in the studio every day, because members of the crew and staff had to bring them to work.   Many people are sharing lodging.  Everyone is tired.  But there's this feeling here that we've got to put on a great show.  I'm sure it feels like that here every week.  But wow.  I feel really lucky to be sharing this time with these particular good folks here at SNL.

In about 5 hours we'll be going on the air.   I'll do a monologue.  And we'll show you some sketches that we wrote and try to make you laugh.   I'm gonna look really dumb in some of this stuff.  But I don't care. Its awfully worth it. And I'm really excited.

Anyway.  I just wanted to let you know.  If you watch the show tonight, when Don Pardo says my name and you see me walking out, all the shit in this email is what ill be thinking.  I'm a pretty lucky guy.   I hope you enjoy the show.

Thanks.

Louis C.K.

Live.  From new york.  Its saturday night.

[MuffinMan]

He also posted this on his web site on the 28th.

Dear New York ticket holding folks....

Okay.   I thought about this very carefully and I really started to worry about making 4300 people come into midtown manhattan on Sunday night, which is just when the stormatron 5000 is supposed to crush our empire.  new york state has ordered the sutdown of all mass transit (subways, buses and commuter trains) as of 7pm Sunday night.

I know that a lot of people are excited to come and they are fine with taking the chance but I really don't want a pole to smash your face in because you saw some comedy.

So i asked the City Center (where the shows are supposed to happen) if we could find another date for Sunday's shows and they gave me March 2nd.  The City Center, being really cool, has agreed to let us do the shows on that night and your tickets that you now hold will be honored on that night.  the same seat, same everything.  If you can't come on that night, we will either do another show soon after that, or find another show for you in the area in the future.  Or you still have the option to get a full refund for your ticket.  If you already asked for a refund, we can reinstate your ticket if you want to go to one of those shows.

Listen.  I know that probably it's going to be a starry clear night and the trains are going to be just gliding up and down the traks and a baby zebra is going to whinny as he trots by the City Center on a night that is going to break records for being placid and perfect for a night of comedy.  And I'm going to feel like an asshole.  And I know that some people had their plans set and are going to be pissed off at me.  I know.  but I also know that some of you are struggling with whether to come in or miss the show and this is the closest I can get to a solution.  You don't have to take a chance and you don't have to miss the show.  Just come see me in a few months.

If it's any consolation, I'm eating a pretty staggering fee for cancelling the show.  But I can take it.  What I can't take is the thought that there's  a CHANCE 4300 people will be in danger trying to get home from my stupid show.

Please email support@louisck.net and tell us what you want to do, and ask any question you have.

So that's that.  Cancelled.  Rescheduled.  Please forgive me.  Please be safe.
 
Your dumb friend
Louis CK

[Ironwood]

He seems like a nice chap.

[Tale]

As I've been predicting... Wall Street Journal article on the subway tunnels. Long term problem.

A 2011 New York state study pegged the total economic impact of a 100-year flood on New York City at $58 billion, with that estimate rising to $84 billion in the event that sea levels rise by four feet in the coming decades.

Estimating the effect of a 100-year flood on New York City after a four-foot increase in sea levels — a prospect still years away — the analysis by the state Energy Research and Development Authority, along with Columbia University and the City University of New York, showed that all five of the MTA’s subway tunnels between lower Manhattan and Brooklyn would be inundated with water. That is what happened, MTA officials say, when Sandy’s storm surge arrived on Monday night.

“Think of it as a 90- to 100-year-old patient that got into an accident and is in the hospital,” MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said, referring to the subway system that moves 5.5 million riders per day through the city. “Things always happen when you get in the hospital that you don’t expect. The amount of saltwater that is in the system, as we clean it out, we’re finding other things.”

[Surlyboi]

The Rockaways, Staten Island and some parts of Queens are still in really bad shape. There are lots of new homeless and displaced without anything at all. The restaurant on the corner was collecting food, clothes, water, toiletries, everything they could for the Rockaways. The local firehouse was then assembling it and shipping it out there. As cold as its gonna be this week, that situation looks like it could get pretty dire.

[Pennilenko]

If there is any city in the U.S. that has the stamina and drive to take care of and protect its own, it would be new york.

[Venkman]

Yes.

Was just there this weekend. By outward appearances it's largely back to normal. You can't even see the water lines in lower Manhatten, and all the areas around the 9/11 plaza look like they did last year when I was down there for a Gamification summit. The only difference to me (former resident now a tourist) is you can't exit FDR drive to the Battery Hugh L Carey Tunnel, some area things were still closed, and there were signs on a number of businesses saying they'll be back after some renovations.

Long Island was still a mess in some parts. South Shore is still out in large chunks. Friends in Commack and Smithtown finally got power back on the 13th day. Same for friends in Princeton area NJ. Talk of lawsuits as usual. My parents neighborhood look like one of those machines from War of the Worlds came along and uprooted every second tree. Some services rolled through and cut up as much as they could, but all they could do was leave piles alongside the road. In some places it was almost Escape from New York bad trying to avoid what keeps falling off those piles.

Side note: at some point over the last couple of years, they shut down a few streets at Times Square. Lots of performance art and sitting tables now. That was probably the most surprising thing I saw all weekend.