Hurricane Irene: Ghosts (technically, video) of hurricanes past
August 26, 2011
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/
Looking for something hurricane-ish to watch — but perhaps something that doesn’t suggest actual threat to loved ones? How about some video from the legendary Great Hurricane of 1938, aka the Long Island Express, aka The Yankee Clipper?
That storm hit Long Island in September 1938 before making its way into Manhattan and then farther up the coast into Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Quebec.
YouTube’s archives include two interesting compilations of footage from the time. The video above, uploaded by “moviemagg,” simply presents the facts in all their incredible glory — nail-biting images of houses being pushed off their foundations by waves, fishing boats being pounded against the shore, streets submerged by water.
In the video below, “Shock Troops of Disaster: The Story of the New England Hurricane,” produced by the federal Works Projects Administration, an old-time announcer talks you through the legendary storm’s path from Florida, up to Long Island and into New England.
It begins, “Of all the signals of the sea, none turns the faces of hardy sailors more grim than the flags that spell ‘hurricane warning.’ ”
High-drama narration and shocking images ensue.
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–Deborah Netburn
With Hurricane Irene expected to roar through New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that construction at the World Trade Center site is being suspended for safety reasons. But he said that everyone is committed to making sure that the storm will not delay construction.
As the city braces for what could be the worst storm in nearly 100 years, one of the first orders of business was securing huge, hulking construction cranes that sit atop buildings throughout the city. The cranes could do unthinkable damage if they came crashing down during the storm, which some forecasters say could bring winds in excess of 100 miles per hour.
Such cranes are also positioned at the trade center site, which will be the site of a ceremony on Sept. 11 to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
Hurricane Irene is becoming a summer bummer. It’s cutting short vacations, hurting businesses and bringing torrential rains to what should be a sunny, second-to-last weekend before the back-to-school routine begins in earnest.
Residents up and down the East Coast are striking back in the only way they can. As they pack up their cars and businesses and head to higher and drier ground, they’re sending messages to the storm — and to each other. Here’s a photo gallery look at some of the signs they’re leaving behind.
Near Morehead City –- the southern edge of the unlucky stretch of North Carolina coast where the hurricane is expected to make landfall –- Irene’s outlying rain bands began pounding the tiny boarded-up communities with an eerie, sustained vigor at around 4:30 p.m Friday.
Most businesses were closed, and many boarded up, along Highway 24, which follows the mainland coast of Bogue Sound. At Zena’s, a quickie mart covered in promotional posters for North Carolina tobacco products, the doors and windows were barred, and someone had taped up a modest sign, writing in felt-tipped pen, “Stay safe.”
Many of the locals riding the storm out found their way, over the course of the day, to the tiny Town & Country IGA Food Store, on the road to Morehead City, to stock up on last-minute essentials before hunkering down for the storm’s expected strike on Saturday.
PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene
It had been a wild day at the IGA. Though there was still food on the shelves, both ice coolers were empty by dusk. Manager Tom Kelly said the store had a generator. The top brass, he said, hadn’t yet decided whether to stay open Saturday. But it was a possibility.
“We’re ready,” he said.
Myra Miller, 43, and her son Turner, 16, left the checkout stand at around 5:30 p.m., loaded down with cheese-stuffed frozen pizzas, Doritos and 2-liter bottles of soda -– junk food, mostly for the boy, she said, and mostly in preparation for a hurricane reality that goes hand-in-hand with danger: boredom. Turner, she figured, would have nothing to do Saturday but sit around, listen to the wind, and eat.
They were on their way to Myra’s aunt’s house to keep her and Myra’s elderly mother company. The house was a few miles from the shore, and they figured they’d be safe there. They’d left their own home with the bathtubs full in case they returned to a home without running water and needed some to flush the toilets.