Hurricane Irene Results In Unprecedented System Wide New York Metropolitan Region Shutdown

New York Metropolitan Region, August 26, 2011 - The entire transportation network of the New York Tri-State region will be shut down due to Hurricane Irene's entry into the area.

New Jersey Transit, The Port Authority of NY & NJ (including PATH subway) in addition to the MTA's transportation venues will be shut down for the first time in history. All three agencies are following a similar script. The New York City governments issued similar statements basically stating that the New York City Office of Emergency Management offers a wealth of information about preparing for the hurricane and for disasters in general.  You can enter your street address on the City website to determine if you live in a hurricane evacuation zone and your level of risk.

Beginning at 12 Noon on Saturday, August 27, 2011; the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York (MTA) announced the unprecedented orderly shutdown of their entire bus and rail (subway, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road) network in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Irene.

In order to ease the mandatory evacuation process in southern Queens in New York City and Long Island, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that in order to facilitate the mandatory evacuation of residents living in low-lying Zone A areas and the Far Rockaways, the MTA has suspended certain fares and tolls in addition to temporary policy changes. MTA stations and rail terminals are not designated shelters and will be closed in the event of a service shutdown. Those in need of assistance will be directed to nearby shelters.

Starting on Friday at 8 p.m, fares were suspended on buses throughout the city as well as all subway and rail passengers at stations in mandatory evacuation areas. Pets will be allowed on board MTA vehicles. Dogs must be leashed and, if possible should be muzzled. Cats and other pets should be in carriers.

Scheduled weekend construction projects have been cancelled to allow for potential evacuation and suspension of service. All MTA construction sites were secured, with cranes lowered.

If winds reach sustained speeds of 60 mph, each of the MTA’s seven bridges and two tunnels will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for closure.

UPDATE:

One of the issues to deal with are the gas stations that can't pump gas because there's no gas or electricity. Here are a couple of photos taken at the Gulf gas station on Main Street in New Rochelle, NY this morning. This storm is really one of the big ones so be safe and dry!!!

Storm Damage in New Rochelle and Pelham, NY on July 25, 2010

Between 4:30 and 5pm today, a huge squall line created a rain storm condition with 60+ mph winds in New Rochelle and Pelham, NY. At times, the rain 'fell' across the horizon instead of down, creating an updraft with water going everywhere imaginable. I did not see any major flooding but storm sewers were back up a bit because too much water going through pipes not big enough to handle it.

Downed power lines and big tree branches in both cities were evident as auto and foot traffic were diverted for safety reasons by the repective police and fire departments. Some of the tree limbs were quickly moved by police but fire department intervention was required for the power lines hitting the ground.

New Rochelle photos on Elm Street (note the downed power line on the close-up):

Pelham NY photos on Boston Post Road at Pelhamdale Rd as Pelham PD blocks the road for their FD...

...and near the Hutchinson River Parkway:

For additional information on this storm, cut and paste this link below into your web browser:
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/content/brief-powerful-storm-rips-new-rochelle-1-missing-presumed-drowned-premium-point-send-us-your