Hurricane Sandy: All dressed up and nowhere to go
So far this "storm of the century" has been a big noing. It finally started raining a little around 0800 and by 1300 the winds had started to gust to 39 mph or slightly higher. The winds have gradually backed from NNE to NE with one reading of N recently and the barometer is dropping more rapidly.The latest advisory has the storm coming ashore farther south again; between Atlantic City and Cape May, NJ. And it's path once it comes ashore is going to bend to the east more quickly resulting in the heavy rains hitting more of New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine than Canada.
The Mayor was quoted in the press this morning saying that the City does not have the authority to enforce the mandatory evacuation it ordered. So you can stay at home if you want to. But if you happen to live in a public housing project within the evacuation zone you won't have any utilities: no water, no electricity, no elevator.
I am thinking that our best chance to see any surf on the Hudson River will be before sunset tonight. The winds are not forecast to be as strong now but the gusts will be stronger, and they will both diminish by 50% by sunrise tomorrow.
 |  |
 |  |
Sea Surface Temperature
A while back, while on the way home from observing at TotL, Peter and I saw them installing a self-erecting crane for some new construction. We watched for a good while, me a good while longer than Peter, and I even figured out how it adds new sections below itself to increase its height.
A bit ago I got a notification from the City about a crane collapse not far away that sounded like out crane. I emailed Peter who confirmed that it is sending back this image.
© Peter Tagatac 2012
It seems that the crane is coming down a bit earlier than they had planned. I am sure that this is related to the hurricane winds.
Even though this is "our" crane Peter and I absolve ourselves of any responsibility for its operation, construction. and collapse and any damages, direct or consequential, resulting from this event.
I met Peter up by his building to see the crane then we went over to the Hudson River to see the surf.
 |  |
A guy on the street said he was looking out his windows and saw the crane turntable twist and moments later the boom fall from its normal horizontal position to a vertical position.
Where it is it swings slightly on the wind gusts. The wind was out of the ENE and the crane was facing to the WSW so the boon gently swung out on its pivot points.
When we went to leave we were turned back at 7 Ave and told to get to the river we had to go back to 6 Ave, walk south to 54 St then west. Peter joked that when we got there we would find the next police car telling us we couldn't go there either. When we got to 7 Ave and 54 St the intersection was blocked off and we had to go down to 53 St before we could continue south.
We finally made it to the river, or the edge of the park along the river. They had barricade tape across the entrance to the park and there was an undercover police van in there with its lights flashing. There was a little surf there but nothing that impressive.
A passer by told us that there was a better view if we walked up to around 57 St which we did. There were obvious waves coming downriver and crashing into the edge of a transfer station pier. It looks like that pier is taking the brunt of it and protecting everything south of it. There was a lot of debris piled up along the shore right at the pier and we could see where some of it had been washed ashore on bigger waves.
While we were there the conditions got worse and it looks like we were out there at pretty nearly the height of the storm so far.
| Time EDT | Temp °F | RH | Preas "HG | Wind Dir | Wind Speed | Wind Gust | Precip in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1551 | 59.0 | 93 | 28.68 | ENE | 27.6 | 47.2 | 0.04 |
| 1651 | 59.0 | 96 | 28.58 | NE | 24.2 | 51.8 | 0.10 |
| 1751 | 62.1 | 96 | 28.53 | ENE | 29.9 | 44.9 | 0.11 |
| 1851 | 60.1 | 93 | 28.56 | E | 25.3 | 59.5 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 57.9 | 90 | 28.63 | E | 25.3 | 57.5 | 0.03 |
It had been very gusty for a while but now the gusts and rain seem to have abated
Peter reports that the crane has rotated toward the west. He also says that one of the TV stations was filming from the top of Rockefeller Center and has footage of the collapse. A gust of wind appears to have lifted the boon, which was pointed toward the north, to the vertical and then it collapsed onto the tear section of the crane.
I just found the video and the metal of the truss system actually folded in half backward. So the part hanging down is being supported by bent metal which bends and weakens more and more each time it gets moved by a gust of wind.
NBC Video of the collapse in progress
The Weather Channel crane collapse in progress video
A YouTube video of the collapse
Another YouTube video
Going back to my own photos of the crane and zooming in I see details that I missed looking at the camera screen out in the rain and even in the enlarged images in previewer. It is clear to see that to crane's boom is laying across the turntable from N to S.
