<p>I live in NYC, and I have not been hearing such dire news (all public transportation being shut down, all of NYC being evacuated). When posting such news, could people give an authoritative cite?</p>
<p>This is what I do see online, at the moment:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>From the [MTA</a> (public transportation) website<a href=“italics%20added%20by%20me”>/url</a>: “Because of the severity of the wind and rain associated with a hurricane, there may be partial or full shut down of our services to ensure the safety of our customers and employees. We are also prepared to implement evacuation plans if the Mayor and Governor decide that is necessary.”</p></li>
<li><p>From the [url=<a href=“http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/home/home.shtml]NYC”>NYC Emergency Management]NYC</a> OEM (Office of Emergency Management) website](<a href=“http://www.mta.info/]MTA”>http://www.mta.info/) : A Hurricane Watch is in effect, and “OEM urges New Yorkers to find out if they live in a hurricane evacuation zone. Residents in Zone A are advised to leave their homes before the storm arrives and are strongly encouraged to stay with friends or family outside an evacuation zone. Evacuation Centers will be open Friday at 4 PM for residents who have no alternative shelter.”</p></li>
</ul>
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<p>Not that I am not worried – I am! – especially about DH and S1, who are driving down to Baltimore tomorrow. But let’s not worry more than we have to!</p>
<p>So sorry for all you parents who have to go through all this extra worry and stress. We just moved our D1 in yesterday but she is in PA so should be fine. I would suggest bringing a tarp with you if at all possible. It had rained that morning so the ground was wet. Even if you move in late the ground might still be wet and you could lay it out and put the stuff all on top. We found a dry spot so we were lucky but other areas were still wet and we had to unload the cars onto the sidewalk and then park the cars to keep the traffic flowing.</p>
<p>S is booked on Amtrak from Ct to DC for Sat. afternoon. So far, Amtrak is running the train & the weather forecast for the trip says it’ll be raining (not pouring), but not overly windy yet. If he doesn’t get out tomorrow, he probably won’t be able to get out until Mon at the earliest.</p>
<p>SodiumFree, my son told me that to evacuate from his “Zone”, he is instructed to … walk two blocks north which would then put him in another “Zone”. He thought that was hilarious - no worries, two blocks north everything will be free and clear. He lives on the 24th floor so flooding shouldn’t be a concern.</p>
<p>jrpar, yes, looking at the evacuation zone map definitely eased my mind! They are really concerned just about areas right near the water, and the area of concern is a relatively small band.</p>
<p>Flooding will affect only small areas, true, but then they were reporting on (admittedly, worst-case scenario) possible high winds, plate glass falling out of skyscrapers, emergency crews unable to get through, mass transit down, subways flooded, power out.</p>
<p>No flooding on the 24th floor is true but hurricane winds aren’t so great up high. Being from Florida I have less faith in weather forecasts than most on this site. Don’t be surprised if your travel plans need changing again! (or that they never needed changing!)</p>
I work near the Bank of America building and windows fall out of that monstrosity if someone sneezes near it. I can’t tell you how often the streets around it have been closed for that reason. I hope no one is anywhere near that area when the wind starts to blow.</p>
<p>jrpar–it does seem funny that you could walk two blocks and be safer–but there actually are “velocity zone” maps which would indicate that could be true. (just a scientific throw-in–I don’t expect anyone to go 2 blocks to be safer)</p>
<p>We can drop DS off on Tuesday and the AESOP staff will get all late arrivals to their trips. I am very relieved we don’t have to drive through a hurricane to get him to Maine. Worst case scenario is we bring him up on the 3rd which is the regular move in day for Freshman who don’t go on a trip. </p>
<p>If I hear anything about NYC & LI from my DH - his teams are pre-positioning today, I will post it here and I will be very careful to read what he sends me correctly this time.</p>
<p>Sending my best wishes to all who are facing move-ins during this storm. I haven’t read all five pages, so forgive me if this has been mentioned. If you don’t have a twitter acct it’s a great way to keep up with very current information. It’s much faster than email and most universities send updates this way. I follow my son’s school, dean of students, admissions, housing, etc. All give updates on events like this and much faster than email. You can also get hooked into newsmedia that give you updates and links. One that I follow that’s been listing schools with changing move-ins is wpjenna , a Washington Post higher ed reporter and blogger. Again, if this has been mentioned please disregard. Best of luck to everyone!!</p>
<p>Irene is expected to hit MA early Sunday, with tropical downpours starting tomorrow. Many of the forecasting models have the center of the storm passing more or less directly through Amherst. Hurricane-force winds and 5 to10 inches of rain are expected in western MA.</p>
<p>They will have to reschedule orientation if half the people can’t get there due to the hurricane. Or just email you the info…which proves most of what they spend hours telling you can be condensed into 15 minutes. :D</p>
<p>According to Mayor Nutter in Philadelphia, at midnight Saturday into Sunday all SEPTA will stop running. Every form of SEPTA will be included in this. They will resume as soon as safely possible on Sunday. </p>
<p>Interesting that in all Philadelphia shelters pets are welcome, Mayor Nutter urged people not to leave their pets behind.</p>
<p>Philly - we’re flying in Saturday…staying at Sheraton for 2 nights…should we go? Trying to contact airlines for flights on Monday…not sure there are any.</p>