Hurricane Irene: More curiosity than damage on New York's East Side

A sense of calm pervaded the downtown area near New York's East River on Sunday morning, as residents emerged from their homes to inspect the damage caused by Hurricane Irene more with curiosity than with anxiety.

Some downed trees could be seen along the streets in Manhattan's East Village and Lower East Side neighborhoods, including one that had ripped off a store awning. And scattere flood waters caused problems for the occasional vehicle as well as a wading opportunity for some residents (including the group above, on a street just south of the Manhattan Bridge in the southeast corner of the city).

But for the most part the neighborhood, which had been designated in the high-risk zone by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was spared disaster.

PHOTOS: In the path of Irene

At Stuyvesant Cove, a pedestrian-friendly inlet flush against the banks of the river, the water level was higher than usual but in little danger of spilling over the concrete embankment. Some large puddles on the path were apparently caused by rain and caused only minor inconveniences.

A wave of dog walkers, runners and photo-snappers passed through the area as a low-grade rain fell, collectively exhaling as they realized the worst had bypassed them. At one point a police car drove up, in an apparent attempt to head off any mischief, but the officers looked bored as they sat in their patrol car.

A few blocks inland, a neighborhood normally bustling on a Sunday morning began to come to life, with seemingly one in every three pedestrians snapping photos of the branches lining the street (and ignoring city officials' plea to stay inside until later in the day).

For a city that had been primed for the worst -- and that had also been through a major earthquake just several days earlier -- the mood was one of relief but also, in its way, disappointment, as New Yorkers looked hungrily for evidence that they, too, had been part of the great storm of 2011.

At one intersection, a young boy walking with his father pointed excitedly to some downed foliage across the street. "What's that?" he said expectantly.

"Oh, just a few branches," said the father, and led the boy in a different direction.

ALSO:

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-- Steven Zeitchik in New York
On Twitter @ZeitchikLAT

Photo: Emily Santiago, right, leads Sasha Williams and Burton Chirinos through flood waters on South Street in Lower Manhattan. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Hurricane Irene churns its way north; 8 dead

Hurricane Irene, a ferocious and slow-moving storm, smashed into North Carolina on Saturday morning, then slowly swirled its way up the Eastern Seaboard, flooding low-lying areas, knocking out power to as many as 1 million customers and forcing the densely populated regions of Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York City to take unprecedented steps as they braced for impact.

At least eight people are known to have died as a result of the storm in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. 

Irene is expected to continue its northward path through New England before weakening early Sunday morning. The youngest victim, an 11-year-old boy, was killed when a tree crashed through his apartment building in Newport News, Va.

PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene

“I've never even heard of a hurricane around here,” said Peter Watts, working at the Vitamin Shoppe in downtown Philadelphia. “Or an earthquake,” he said, referring to Tuesday’s 5.8-magnitude temblor that shook the East Coast.

Storm-related disruptions of daily life were immense. About 10,000 commercial airline flights were canceled, and more than 2 million people were ordered evacuated from areas inundated by the surging floodwaters that accompanied the 450-mile-wide hurricane's northward path at 16 mph.

Evacuation orders affected people in Staten Island and Battery Park in New York City, the Jersey Shore, all coastal areas of Delaware, plus parts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.

“Staying behind is dangerous, staying behind is foolish and it's against the law,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took to television to plead with about 600 seniors who refused to leave their Atlantic City high-rises. He said he feared they would be injured or worse if the hurricane’s expected 80 mph winds shattered their windows.

“You’re correct that I cannot make you leave your home and I certainly do not intend to place you under arrest to get you to leave,” Christie said. “But if you stay where you are, you’re putting yourself in danger as well as your loved ones.”

In New York City, the country’s largest subway system ground to a halt as officials took precautions against flooding. In an effort to minimize flying debris in the face of brutal, sustained winds, city sanitation workers turned over 25,000 trash cans.

Obama visits FEMA

President Obama, who paid an unannounced visit Saturday to the Federal Emergency Management Administration headquarters in Washington, declared a state of emergency in nine states.

The president praised emergency preparations, but warned that the worst was not over. “It's going to be a long 72 hours,” the president said. “And obviously a lot of families are going to be affected…. So we’ll have to stay on top of the recovery.”

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said that the large, slow-moving storm could also produce dangerous tornadoes. Tornadoes “will not be on the ground very long,” he said. “But they can still be very devastating.”

Officials also expressed concern about 11 nuclear power plants along the Eastern Seaboard and said they had dispatched staff to make sure the plants' reactors are protected by backup power systems, according to a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Though the storm was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it made landfall in Jacksonville, N.C., on Saturday morning, it still packed 85 mph winds and plenty of danger. Officials warned people not to underestimate Irene’s power for devastation.

“If you’re in a hurricane, you're in a hurricane,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Saturday morning at a briefing at FEMA headquarters. “We anticipate heavy rain, potential flooding and significant power outages throughout the area of the storm, which means all up and down the Eastern Seaboard.”

By Sunday morning, the storm was expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it reached New England. It will continue to lose steam as it moves north and east across the eastern edge of Canada, finally veering into the Atlantic Ocean, off Newfoundland and Labrador.

Deaths in the South

Five deaths from Hurricane Irene were reported in North Carolina.

On Friday, a man installing plywood on the window of his home in Onslow County died of a heart attack, said Ernie Seneca of the North Carolina Emergency Management office in Raleigh. A man in Nash County, N.C., was reported killed by a falling tree limb outside his home Saturday; and a third man died in Pitt County when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree, officials said. Two others in the state died in car accidents.

In Newport News, Va., an 11-year-old boy was killed when a tree crashed into his apartment building, said Kim Lee, a city spokeswoman. And in Brunswick County, a man died when a tree fell on his car.

And off New Smyrna Beach, Fla., authorities said, a 55-year-old surfer died in 7-foot waves.

PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene

Also, authorities in New Hanover County, N.C., were searching for a man who either fell or jumped into the Cape Fear River on Friday as the first, outer bands of the storm began to ravage the area. A rescue team was sent out, but returned because of the rough conditions, said Michelle Harrell, an emergency operations staff member there.

“It is now more of a recovery mission,” Harrell said.

Despite the deaths and disruption, there were plenty of skeptics of the multi-state alarms and evacuation orders.

On Harker’s Island along North Carolina’s southeastern coast, for instance, the mood among many hurricane veterans was defiant. On Saturday afternoon, at Sammy’s Seafood House and Oyster Bar, owner Sammy Boyd sat at his wooden bar putting away a steak lunch.

The streets were empty, and his competitors on the touristy strip -- the Ruddy Duck, the Sanitary -- were boarded up. But Boyd -- a former commercial fisherman -- declared he was open for business.

He had been watching the storm closely, but had a feeling it wasn’t going to be the end of the world. A Category 4 or 5, he said, would have driven him to safer ground. But a Category 1? “To me, it felt like a regular old bout of wind and rain.”

Not evacuating

On Long Island, a block from the water in South Freeport, Nick Dionisio watched his neighbors take off.

“I thought he was going to stick it out,” said Dionisio as a car drove past.

“Anyone smart would leave,” replied his friend, Jesse Olivero.

Irene’s eye was predicted to hit there late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Dionisio and his friends decided to defy evacuation orders.

“You gotta watch your stuff,” said Dionisio, 23. “I got not other choice.”

Dionisio is worried about the tide that is expected to surge to 6 to 8 feet. The hurricane is set to land just as the new moon brings the highest tide of the month Sunday morning.

Dionisio planned to drive his car inland, then return by foot or bike to stay. “You don't want to be caught sleeping during this,” Dionisio said.

As Hurricane Irene's surge had reached the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on Saturday afternoon, coastal Maryland and Virginia began feeling the strength of the storm.

In Ocean City, Md., police stopped patrolling about 7 p.m. as winds picked up and streets became flooded.

The city had been effectively evacuated since midnight Thursday with only 200 or so people remaining, according to city communications officer Donna Abbott. Speaking from the town’s emergency center, Abbott said police were still responding to emergency calls Saturday evening, but that those could be halted if sustained winds over 50 mph continued for 10 minutes or more.

Police in tidewater Virginia communities imposed a curfew, asking that no one travel during evening hours within the city limits of Portsmouth and Hampton. Officials in Virginia Beach ordered residents to evacuate several low-lying areas and the city opened shelters.

Flash flood watch in DC

Washington, D.C., and its suburbs were drenched but not badly disabled Saturday afternoon and early evening as bands of rain and wind started to hit the region. Anxiety and anticipation took the biggest toll during the day. Checkstands at a grocery stores in Washington's northwest quadrant were backed up as residents stocked up on food and emergency supplies.

Traffic gridlocked around Washington’s Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, where the city was distributing free sandbags. Residents waited hours in line only to be told in the late afternoon that the supply had been exhausted.

PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene

Frustrated residents then learned that buying sandbags also was not an option. The Strosnider’s Hardware chain sold out of all sandbags at its three suburban Maryland locations early in the day. Power outages were reported sporadically in Maryland and Virginia as the sun set.

The district was under a flash-flood warning Saturday night, as city officials warned of winds up to 65 mph and 4 to 8 inches of rainfall.

The storm also forced officials to accelerate transfer of the last remaining in-patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The facility's Red Cross flag was lowered a day early Saturday afternoon, after original plans to close the medical center were moved up because of the impending storm.

The northwest Washington facility, which has accumulated a devoted following in its 102 years of service, had been slated for closure for years. On Saturday morning, supporters stood outside Walter Reed's gates with signs –- “Thank you for your service. We love you!” –- as an ambulance carrying the last remaining in-patient turned down Georgia Avenue.

Area airports began curtailing flights and Washington’s Reagan National Airport was reported as open but with no flights arriving or departing Saturday evening. United Airlines said it hoped to operate most of its flights out of Dulles Airport in suburban Virginia. But United Express announced it would cease operations.

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-- David Meeks in Philadelphia and New Jersey, Richard Fausset and David Zucchino in North Carolina, Kim Geiger and Tom Hamburger in Washington, D.C., Nathaniel Popper and Geraldine Baum in New York, and Stephen Ceasar and Robin Abcarian in Los Angeles.

Photo: A satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Saturday shows the sprawl of Hurricane Irene over the east coast of North Carolina as it made landfall. Credit: NOAA 

Hurricane Irene leaves tourists trapped in New York City

Scores of evacuees are pouring into shelters around the New York area, as residents of low-lying areas scramble to reach higher ground ahead of Hurricane Irene.

But New York on Saturday was also filled with a different form of dispossessed: the displaced tourist.

August is high tourist season in New York, with visitors from around the world moving through the city as though it were the revolving door of a midtown office building. (Many year-round occupants of those buildings, it should be said, have headed elsewhere.)

Schools are out, adults are on vacation and visitors from Europe, Asia and other parts of the U.S. turn parts of the city into a walking gallery of googly-eyed picture-takers. (Overall, the total number of visitors to New York in 2010 surpassed 47 million, an all-time high.)

PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene

On Saturday, many of those people found themselves stuck in a city that -- their affection for it notwithstanding -- they might not be able to leave anytime soon. Airports and mass transit are shut down, and roads out of the city are facing possible closure because of flooding.

Kate Naver, 37, was on an around-the-world trip from Melbourne, Australia, and was just beginning to realize she was going to be stuck here beyond her Tuesday departure date.

"British Airways sent me an email yesterday saying basically 'Your flight has been canceled. Hope it doesn't trouble you!' And when you try to call them," she added, "a recorded voice just tells you to call back because of the high volume of calls."

To those who've lost power, homes and more in North Carolina, a few extra days in New York might seem like a champagne problem. But for tourists, a canceled flight can mean thousands of dollars in added hotel expenses -- if a room is available at all.

Melanie Schillinger arrived last week from Munich with her husband and children. She was set to head out of town Tuesday to Boston, where she hoped she and her family would be able to take a scheduled flight back home. "We'll be able to get the car out of New York," she said. Then, more tentatively, "We will be able to get the car out, won't we?"

Armanda and Ben Carcani drove up to New York from Virginia with their two young daughters last week when it looked like Irene would be largely a problem south of the Mason-Dixon line. On Saturday, they were wondering if they should have driven in another direction -- maybe west?

Several people, however, found themselves in the strange position of coming to a hurricane-threatened New York to seek shelter.

Joe Bawol and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Brady, both 32, were driving back on Friday from a camping trip in Montreal. They were headed to Baltimore, where they live, when they realized that continuing into the teeth of a major storm might not be a good idea. So they pulled over and stayed with one of Bawol's college friends in Brooklyn.

 "My mother called me from Maryland and worried that I was in New York," he said. "I told her I was more worried about her in Maryland."

RELATED:

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-- Steven Zeitchik in New York

Photo: Tourists look at the Statue of Liberty no Saturday before the arrival of Hurricane Irene. Credit: Reuters / Eduardo Munoz

 

 

Hurricane Irene: Times Square crowds hunt for something to do

New York's Times Square area, normally a hotbed of Broadway shows and other activity, presented a strange contrast Saturday afternoon.

Theaters were shuttered after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided to stop all public transit at noon and evacuate swaths of residents throughout Manhattan.

But the Times Square streets were surprisingly crowded, as theatergoers who would normally pack matinee performances were left to wander the streets in search of any viable activity.

PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene

 

View Hurricane Irene track forecast in a larger map

 

At the American Eagle store on 46th Street and Broadway, a line formed around the block, as tourists sought to enter one of the few non-restaurant businesses that was open.

Meanwhile, on a pedestrian plaza on Broadway, not far from the ever-popular Naked Cowboy (he was out, too, offering photo ops he called the "hurricane special"), a few ticket hawkers were cleaning up.

Sebastian Tribbie, a young representative of the "Ha!" comedy club across the street, sold 200 tickets by 4 p.m. for an evening performance -- about quadruple what he'd normally sell, he said.

"My pitch is just 'We're open and we have alcohol,'" he said, laughing. "I mean, it's that's easy. There's literally nothing else open and people want something to do." (He said the club's proprietors had paid to keep performers in hotels overnight so the show could go, Irene be darned.)

Those who operate some of the city's stages, however, were frustrated at the city and state for terminating public transit Saturday afternoon.

"What he did was cut us off at the knees," said Pamela Hall, a partner and director at the St. Luke's Theatre, a popular off-Broadway venue nearby. "First he sent out a directive telling us to close today, and our actors all live in New Jersey and Brooklyn, so they couldn't get here even if we wanted to stay open."

"I think it's apalling," said Hall's partner, theatre operator and producer Ed Gaynes. "He could have at least let us have matinee business on Saturday afternoon before the rain comes."

Slightly to the southwest in the popular Chelsea district, the city maintained a largely normal routine, if of the restrained variety.

Well-established brunch venues such as Moran's Restaurant on 1oth Avenue were open, with patrons packing outdoor tables under an awning. At nearby sports bar Mr. Biggs, patrons gathered for brews and baseball, though the latter was of the out-of-town sort, as both Yankees and Mets games were canceled because of the hurricane.

At least one restaurant wasn't taking any chances, though. At the trendy Half King bar on 23rd, near the Hudson River, the door was locked and the windows were boarded. Perhaps the caution was a function of its owner: He is Sebastian Junger, author of "The Perfect Storm."

 

RELATED:

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-- Steve Zeitchik in New York

Photo: Yellow caution tape blocks off an entrance to a closed subway station in New York's Times Square. Credit: Brendan McDermid / Reuters

Hurricane Irene: At ground zero, the hardy come out

As Hurricane Irene barrels toward the Northeast, most New Yorkers are staying inside. But some intrepid tourists were looking to ride out one potential disaster by touring the site of another.

Even as the rain picked up early Saturday afternoon, a trickle of out-of-town visitors circulated around ground zero, the half-rebuilt site in lower Manhattan where the Twin Towers once stood. Mostly they were sturdy types accustomed to the threat of rampant flooding and gale-force winds.

"We're from South Florida, so this doesn't really faze us," said Jimmy Thate, who had come from Palm Beach with his friend, Andrew Wilcox.

Along with two other visitors, the pair were snapping photos near the site -- with its half-completed skyscrapers, its hulking (and vulnerable-looking) cranes and recently completed memorials -- as they discussed the site's progress in the nearly 10 years since Sept. 11, 2001.

When would the weather get bleak enough for them to return to their Times Square hotel? "When it's a Category 4?" Wilcox offered dryly.

Up the street, Andrew New, 27, was observing the site with his girlfriend, Angela Caples, 25. The couple were visiting the U.S. from Australia this summer, and said they were out and about because the impending storm didn't really alarm them. "We have floods in Australia all the time, so we're not too worried just yet," New said.

The pair had just missed the East Coast earthquake earlier in the week on their flight in from Chicago. "Now that would have been a little scary," Caples added.

The group of visitors around Ground Zero highlighted how, in an international destination like New York, Irene tended to elicit a wider range of reactions than in smaller, more monolithic cities and communities.

Residents of nearby Battery Park City, which sits on the water and is considered an evacuation zone, had nearly all cleared out, creating something of a ghost town Saturday; only the occasional jogger could be seen moving along what is usually a crowded waterfront promenade.

But the out-of-town visitors were maintaining their joie de vivre at ground zero. Claire, a grandmother from Newcastle in Great Britain who had just arrived in New York with her two daughters and two granddaughters, popped out of a cab right next to the site and waved off -- in a genteel way -- any concerns about the weather. "Oh, we're used to a little rain in England," she said.

The site also was attracting visitors because it was comparatively easy to walk or taxi to -- essential given that all subway and bus service had been suspended -- and because many other attractions were also closed.

Jim and Jan Steiner, a 40-something married couple from Atlanta, came because their weekend entertainment plans were washed out (a performance of "Jersey Boys," among other events).

Others at ground zero, however, weren't giving up on some live entertainment this weekend.

"It will be a lot easier to get tickets for 'Letterman' on Monday, won't it?" asked New. "We really want to see him."

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--Steven Zeitchik in New York

Twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

Photo: Pedestrians queue up to buy umbrellas at ground zero Saturday in New York. Credit: John Minchillo / Associated Press

Hurricane Irene: Jokes and jitters in New York nightlife

"Happy Hurricane Day," a burly, bearded man named Carlos said as he walked into Mona's, a longtime watering hole in New York's East Village, on Friday night and asked a barmaid to pour him a whiskey.  "Nah, that's Sunday," came the barstool reply from a short, clean-shaven man who looked like the actor Fisher Stevens (and may in fact have been him).

A kind of stoic comedy, with a kick of gallows humor, permeated New York late Friday night as the city braced for what meteorologists predicted could be one of the worst natural disasters in its history. In preparation for Hurricane Irene, the state was already taking the unprecedented step of shutting down mass transit at noon Saturday, a move that equates roughly to Los Angeles banning cars on city streets during the weekday rush hour.

PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene

Trains and buses were gliding along Friday night, but a sense of disruption was already palpable. The East Village, where Mona's is located, is one of New York's premiere nightlife districts. Well past midnight on almost any weekend night, bars are typically packed, the sounds of noisy inebriation -- emanating from those who've traveled miles from homes in suburban New Jersey or blocks from dorm rooms at New York University -- filling the streets.

But it was comparatively quiet at about 1 a.m. Saturday -- a function, perhaps, of the neighborhood sitting partly in the dreaded Zone A, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg has named the high-risk, low-lying area adjacent to the water. Just a few blocks northeast of Mona's sat the East River, looking deceptively placid, though a concrete embankment that rose just 10 inches from the water to the sidewalk was enough to bring a shudder to the most stoic New Yorker.

A few solitary people could be seen strolling near the normally deserted riverfront, as though contemplating what would happen if the waters swelled. Nearby, a river-adjacent plant for Con Edison Electric Co., normally a barely noticed industrial complex, suddenly seemed more prominent and more vulnerable.

Meanwhile, alongside some buildings near the river sat piles of sandbags; the sight of a dog walking up to a newsstand and buying a lottery ticket would have seemed less strange.

A few blocks inland, gaggles of hipsters could be seen standing and smoking, talking about the possibility of their apartments getting flooded. Most young people in this city only rent their homes, but that did little to appease them; if their windows blew out or their lobbies filled with water, they had little confidence their superintendents would jump quickly on the case.

There was also a more deeply felt reason for the worry. This is a city whose air, with a bevy of upcoming Sept. 11 anniversary events, has been saturated with anxiety this summer. Memories of a crippling blizzard last Christmas didn't help either.

Still, some were trying to keep the mood light. Back inside Mona's, a thin man with a tanned complexion and a black T-shirt bantered with the barmaid. "Something interesting for this weekend," he said, with a look of amusement on his face.

"Yep," said the barmaid, as she set a pint of lager in front of him. "A shower and a show."

RELATED:

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-- Steven Zeitchik

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

Photo: In New York City, a (temporarily) calm East River on Friday night. Credit: Steven Zeitchik