WHAT NORTHEAST CITIES FACED Rain (2 to 20 in) over a wide area from the eye—major flooding exacerbated by slow runoff Wind (40 + mph)—damage to trees, homes, buildings, and infrastructure
WHAT NORTHEAST CITIES FACED Beach erosion and mudslides-- irreversible loss due to permanent changes in the landscape. Tornadoes---no warning; deadly on the local level
NEW YORK CITY:: Heavy rainfall overflowed sewers, seawater lapped at sidewalks at the edges of the city, and water cascaded toward Wall Street, which had been fortified with sandbags.
MAYOR BLOOMBURG CALLED FOR RESTORE AND RECOVERY TO START MONDAY, AUGUST 29 th A Ray of Hope for New York City Drenched, but still Standing
AUG 28: FORECAST OF IRENE’S PATH
All parts of the East Coast were on high alert for major flooding as rivers swelled from the runoff of Irene’s heavy rain fall
IRENE’S IMPACTS: The storm that marched up the East Coast on August 27 th pounded the entire path with torrential rains and fierce winds and caused power outages for more than 6 million homes and businesses.
OVERALL IMPACTS (continued): The storm caused an unprecedented shutdown of the transit systems in Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and New York; It left rail and airline service in the Northeast paralyzed, and left hundreds of thousands of people without power.
OVERALL IMPACTS (continued): Government officials issued evacuation orders for about 3 million people along the Eastern Seaboard, ranging from 100,000 people in Delaware to a million people in New Jersey
FEMA WAS READY The Federal Emergency Management Agency had 18 disaster-response teams in place along the East Coast, with stockpiles of food, water and mobile communications equipment ready to go.
A COMMON STATEMENT “This is the worst flooding we’ve ever had,”
AUGUST 28: IMPACTS IN VIRGINIA In Virginia, more than 40 cm (16 in) of rain fell in conjunction with the fourth-highest storm surge on record, and winds reached 140 kph (86 mph), wreaking havoc in towns and cities and causing at least four fatalities.
IMPACTS IN PHILADELPHIA: Philadelphia, which lies between the Schulkill and Delaware Rivers, was hit hard; parts of the city were flooded, water was as high as street-sign levels in some areas, and flash flood warnings were issued for Eastern and Central Pennsylvania.
AUGUST 28: IMPACTS IN MASSACHUSETS Flooding was a particular threat to towns along the Connecticut River and other waterways in central and western Massachusetts, where roads were closed and low- lying areas evacuated.
AUGUST 28: IMPACTS IN RHODE ISLAND Heavy rain and strong winds with gusts reaching 45 + mph occurred when Irene arrived in Rhode Island on Sunday morning, knocking down trees and power lines, and leaving more than 100,000 homes without electricity.
IMPACTS IN VERMONT: In Vermont, “epic” flooding from Irene’s heavy rainfall inundated a number of towns in southern Vermont and isolated many of them,
Loss estimates (still being tallied ) indicate that Irene will almost certainly rank among the nation's costliest natural disasters.
Irene is blamed for at least 45 deaths in the continental U.S., plus one in Puerto Rico and seven more in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
2011’s TENTH STORM TROPICAL STORM JOSE FORMED LATE SUNDAY (AUGUST 28 th NEAR BERMUDA
AUG 28: TROPICAL STORM JOSE DID NOT LIVE LONG
2011’s ELEVENTH STORM TROPICAL STORM KATIA FORMED ON AUGUST 30 th AND DEVELOPED INTO SECOND HURRICANE OF SEASON ON AUG 31
AUG 31: KATIA DID BECOME A CAT 3 HURRICANE
SEPT 5: FORECAST FOR KATIA (A CAT 2 HURRICANE)
2011’s TWELFTH STORM TROPICAL DEPRESSION 13 BECAME TROPICAL STORM LEE FORMING IN GULF OF MEXICO ON SEPTEMBER 2
SEPTEMBER 2: FLORIDA BEING SANDWICHED BY LEE AND KATIA
SEPT 2: Almost half the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and a third of natural gas output in Lee’s path were shut down.
RAIN IN LEE (SOURCE: NASA’S AQUA SATELLITE)
SEPT 4: At 8 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center said Lee's center had come ashore on the Louisiana coast about 80 km (50 mi) west of Lafayette, LA with maximum sustained winds of 75 kph (45 mph) headed north at 5 kph (3 mph)
SEPT 4: NEW ORLEANS escaped without a Katrina- type, breached-levee, flooding disaster and no deaths, but the city had some local flooding and tens of thousands were without power.
SEPT 4: Since Thursday (Sept 1), parts of New Orleans had as much as 37 cm (15 in) of rain; 40 cm (16 in) in nearby Gretna, and over 27 cm (11 in) in parts of St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes.
RAIN FROM LEE FORECAST FOR MUCH OF EASTERN USA
SEPTEMBER 6: As of 10 p.m., there were 213,000 power outages reported statewide, including 162,000 in the Birmingham area..
SEPT 8: 100,000 flee flash floods after the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood warning for several counties in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia
2011’s THIRTEENTH STORM THE TROPICAL DEPRESSION, WHICH WAS FORMING IN THE ATLANTIC ON SEPTEMBER 3 rd BECAME TROPICAL STORM MARIA ON SEPTEMBER 7th
SEPTEMBER 7: TROPICAL STORM MARIA FORMS AND STARTS PATH
2011’s FOURTEENTH STORM TROPICAL STORM NATE FORMED ON SEPTEMBER 8th
SEPT 8: KATIA (ON RIGHT) AND TS NATE IN SW GULF OF MEXICO