Is Our Hood Safe From Hurricane Irene?
After the infamous Boxing Day Blizzard debacle last December, and while Hurricane Irene barrels up the East Coast towards New Jersey, Mayor Bloomberg insists that, this time, NYC won’t be caught lying down.
The Daily News is reporting that the mayor, at a press conference this morning at St. Luke’s Baptist Church in Queens, told journalists that, should Hurricane Irene make a visit, the city will be well prepared.
From Daily News:
“The city has already seen the power of Mother Nature this week,” Bloomberg said, referring to the earthquake which shook the city Tuesday.
The city is “hoping for the best, preparing for the worst,” he added.
Just how would our beloved home fare if worse came to worse and a hurricane hit?
If we look at the Office of Emergency Management map above, you can see that, on the whole, Bensonhurst and its surrounding neighborhoods would fare better than our neighbors to the south and east.
The map divides at risk areas into three categories – High Risk Hurricane Evacuation Zone A, shown in orange; Zone B, colored in yellow, which is in less danger and finally, Zone C, indicated by the color green, which is only supposed to go underwater if an extremely severe Category 3 or 4 hurricane were to hit.
As you can see, even coastal areas like Bath Beach are mostly in the “green zone.” The most dangerous areas are on the man-made peninsula of Coney Island, as well as the southernmost parts of Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend.
Please make sure to remind friends and family who reside in any of the Hurricane Evacuation Zones to stay tuned to weather reports as the weekend approaches. The way things look now, the most dangerous time will be Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Make certain your loved ones know to get going while the going is good. They’ll probably want to have a go-bag with items such as spare clothes, food, flashlights, some cash and a first aid kit. They should also have some basic knowledge of where higher ground is (Fort Hamilton, Prospect Park, Greenwood Cemetery) as well as planned evacuation centers, such as Roosevelt High School, P.S. 187 and I.S. 136, which are all shown on the big map.
