NYC STORM WATCH

NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ADVISES NEW YORKERS TO BE PREPARED FOR COASTAL STORM RISKS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
#3-17

NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ADVISES NEW YORKERS TO BE PREPARED FOR COASTAL STORM RISKS

A costal storm is forecast to bring high winds and heavy rain Monday; localized minor to moderate coastal flooding is expected

The NYC Department of Homeless Services annual HOPE count scheduled to begin at 10:00 PM Monday has been rescheduled to Monday February, 6

January 22, 2017 – The New York City Emergency Management Department today urged New Yorkers to be prepared for high winds, heavy rain, and localized minor to moderate coastal flooding on Monday, January 23. The potential for heavy winds and rain will create hazardous travel conditions Monday.

 "New York City is expecting strong, gusty winds and two to three inches of rain Monday, with possible minor to moderate coastal flooding in vulnerable areas along the coast," said NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito. "We’re urging New Yorkers to use extra caution when outdoors Monday and allow for extra travel time during tomorrow’s commutes. Coastal residents in vulnerable neighborhoods should take steps to protect their property ahead of this storm."

The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Warning from 1:00 AM Monday through 1:00 AM Tuesday. The National Weather Service has also issued a Flood Watch for New York City from 1:00 PM Monday through 5:00 AM Tuesday.

A Coastal Flood Advisory has been issued from 3:00 PM through 8:00 PM Monday for along the southern shores of Queens, and areas near the coastline in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

A Coastal Flood Advisory has been issued from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM Monday along the northern shores of Queens and areas near the coastline in The Bronx.

During a Coastal Flood Advisory, minor flooding of the most vulnerable shore roads and/or properties is possible. Coastal residents should be alert for updates and take action to protect property.

A Coastal Flood Warning is in effect from 3:00 PM through 9:00 PM Monday for areas near the coastline in Staten Island.

During a Coastal Flood Warning, widespread moderate flooding is expected, resulting in beach erosion and flooding of vulnerable shore roads and/or properties. Coastal residents in the warned area should be alert for rising water and take appropriate action to protect life and property.

A weak area of low pressure is expected to bring heavy rain and high winds to the New York City area through Monday. Light rain accompanied by high winds is forecast to begin Sunday evening, increasing overnight into Monday. The heaviest rain and strongest winds are forecast Monday afternoon through Monday night, with sustained winds of 30 mph to 40 mph and gusts of 60 mph to 70 mph predicted. The rain is expected to subside Monday night and winds are expected to decrease early Tuesday morning. A total of two to three inches of rain is forecast, but locally higher amounts are possible. Urban flooding may occur in low-lying and poor drainage areas. Flash flooding cannot be ruled out during the periods of heaviest rain. NYC residents living in coastal areas expected to experience minor to moderate coastal flooding should take action to protect their property.

The New York City Department of Buildings has issued a release advising property owners, contractors and crane operators to take precautionary measures to secure their construction sites, buildings and equipment. The Buildings Department will also be performing random spot-check inspections of construction sites around the City. If sites are not secured, the Department will take immediate enforcement action -- issuing violations and Stop Work Orders, where necessary.

The City’s Flash Flood Emergency Plan has been activated to ensure a quick, effective, and coordinated response to any flash flood events. Additionally, the City’s Downed Tree Task Force has been notified. This multi-agency task force is responsible for coordinating the response to a large downed tree event. NYC Emergency Management has also notified elected officials of the impending storm, and has issued an Advance Warning System (AWS) message to more than 1200 service providers who disseminate information to people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs. NYC Emergency Management will deploy Citywide Interagency Coordinators to coastal locations during Monday and Tuesday high tide cycles to facilitate coordination and information collection. New York City Emergency Management will continue to work closely with The National Weather Service to monitor the storm.

The Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Transportation, and Department of Sanitation regularly target recurring flood locations for catch basin cleaning and maintenance prior to major weather events. During flooding events, DEP patrols highways to identify and clear catch basin grates when possible.

Safety Tips:

The safest place to be during high winds is indoors. Postpone outdoor activities if a wind advisory or high wind warning has been issued. High winds can bring down trees and power lines and can turn unsecured objects into dangerous projectiles. To protect against the hazard of high winds, New Yorkers should:

• Check the area immediately surrounding your home for unsecured objects or potentially dangerous conditions. Tree limbs, garbage cans, yard debris, or other materials that can be moved by the wind are potential projectiles aimed at your home or parked vehicle.
• Bring inside loose, lightweight objects such as lawn furniture, potted plants, garbage cans, garden tools and toys.
• Anchor objects that would be unsafe outside, such as gas grills or propane tanks.
• Close up and secure patio umbrellas.
• Secure retractable awnings.
• Remove aerial antennas and satellite television dishes.
• Use caution when walking or driving high profile vehicles during periods of high winds.
• Stand clear of roadways or train tracks, as a gust may blow you toward an oncoming vehicle.
• Use handrails where available.
• Avoid elevated areas such as roofs, as wind speeds may be higher above ground level.
• Avoid anything that may be touching downed lines, including vehicles or tree branches. Puddles and even wet ground can conduct electricity in some cases.
• Watch for flying debris. Tree limbs may break and objects may become loose during strong wind gusts.
• Build or restock your emergency supply kit, including a flashlight, batteries, cash, and first aid supplies.
• Charge cell phones and any battery-powered devices.
• Turn your refrigerator and freezer to a colder setting. If you lose power, items that need refrigeration will stay cooler for longer. Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to prevent food spoilage.
• Check on friends, relatives, and neighbors, especially older adults and people with disabilities, access and functional needs, or health conditions. Help them to prepare if needed.
• If you lose power and have a disability or access and functional needs, or use Life Sustaining Equipment (LSE) and need immediate assistance, please call 911.

If you are driving during periods of high winds:

• Keep both hands on the wheel and slow down.
• Watch for objects blowing across the roadway and into your path.
• Keep a safe distance from cars in adjacent lanes, as strong gusts could push a car outside its lane of travel.
• Take extra care in a high-profile vehicle such as trucks, vans and SUVs, as these vehicles are more prone to being pushed or flipped by high wind gusts.
• New Yorkers are encouraged to call 911 to report emergencies at construction sites or buildings. New Yorkers who suspect a building or property has been structurally compromised should call 911.

Additional wind guidance from the NYC Department of Buildings:

To safeguard construction sites, builders, contractors, and developers should take all precautionary measures including but not limited to the following:

• Tie down and secure material and loose debris at construction sites.
• Cover electrical equipment from exposure to the weather.
• Store loose tools, oil cans, and extra fuses in a tool box.
• Secure netting, scaffolding, and sidewalk sheds.
• Suspend crane operations and secure crane equipment when wind speeds reach 30 mph or greater.
• Suspend hoist operations and secure exterior hoists when wind speeds reach 35 mph or greater, unless manufacturer specifications state otherwise.
• Brace and secure construction fences.
• Call 911 if there is an emergency on a construction site.

Coastal Flooding Preparations

NYC residents living in coastal areas expected to experience minor coastal flooding should take the following preparedness steps:

• Prepare a Go Bag that you can grab in case you need to leave your home in a hurry.
• Learn the safest route from your home or workplace to safe, high ground in case you have to evacuate. This should be part of your household emergency plan.
• If you live in a flood-susceptible area, keep materials, such as sandbags, plywood, plastic sheeting, and lumber, on hand to help protect your home.
• Stay informed. Before and during an emergency, the City will send emergency alerts and updates to New Yorkers through various channels, including Notify NYC. Sign up for emergency notifications at NYC.gov/NotifyNYC or call 311. You can also follow @NotifyNYC on Twitter.
• If you have to walk in water, walk where the water is not moving or use a stick to check the firmness of the ground in front of you.
• Stay out of any building if it is surrounded by floodwaters.
• When outside, avoid walking and driving through flooded areas. As few as six inches of moving water can knock a person over. Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars, causing loss of control and possible stalling. One or two feet of water can carry away a vehicle.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISTI: http://www1.nyc.gov/site/em/about/press-releases/20170122_pr_nycem-advises-new-yorkers-to-prepare-for-coastal-storm.page

OR 

MEDIA CONTACT: Nancy Silvestri/Omar Bourne (718) 422-4888 
STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: @NotifyNYC (emergency notifications); @nycoem (emergency preparedness info); Facebook: /NYCemergencymanagement

If you are in NYC, Stay Safe and Share this information

The New York City Emergency Management Department urges New Yorkers to be prepared for high winds tomorrow, 1/23. 

The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Warning for New York City in effect from 1/23 at 1:00 AM until 1/24 at 1:00 AM. The warning has been issued for sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph and gusts in excess of 60 mph. During periods of high winds, residents should use caution when walking or driving profile vehicles. Winds at these speeds can cause flying debris, turn unsecured objects into projectiles, and cause power outages. To prepare, charge cell phone batteries, gather supplies, and turn refrigerators and freezers to a colder setting. Always stay clear of downed power lines. If you are affected by an outage, turn off all appliances and keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to prevent food spoilage. Do not use generators indoors. If you lose power and have a disability or access needs, or use Life Sustaining Equipment (LSE) and need immediate assistance, please dial 9-1-1. 

For more information and updates, please visit: http://www.weather.gov/nyc.

To view this message in American Sign Language (ASL), العربية, বাঙালি, 中文, Français, Kreyòl Ayisyen, Italiano, 한국어, Polski, Pусский, Español, اردو or ייִדיש

:  http://on.nyc.gov/2hjElnC.

Earth keeps breaking its own temperature record

by Ashley Carman@ashleyrcarman  

Photo by Alexander Gerst / ESA via Getty Images

Earth set a new heat record in 2016, marking the third year of record-setting temperatures, according to reports from multiple organizations. The unsettling news reaffirms what we’ve witnessed for months.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration wrote today that the average global temperature in 2016 was 58.69 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. This beats last year’s record-setting temperature by 0.07 degrees Fahrenheit. NOAA notes that the annual global temperature record has broken five times in the 21st century. NASA and the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project separately confirmed the news.

The effects of climate change are apparent. Sea ice levels are at record lows, including Arctic and Antarctica ice. Pervasive drought affected Africa; India lived through its hottest temperature ever recorded; and Sydney, Australia residents dealt with a record-breaking hot night, with the temperature remaining at 83 degrees, even at 2AM.

This year’s record confirmation, as first reported by The New York Times, follows months of warm weather. Temperatures in the Arctic were particularly excessive this year and sometimes reached 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. In November, the World Meteorological Organization reported that temperatures from January until September of 2016 were 1.58 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the average from 1961 to 1990 around the world.

El Niño, which has now ended, likely contributed to this year’s heat, possibly by up to 0.20 degrees Fahrenheit. But even with that in mind, NOAA and NASA scientists only expect temperatures to continue rising.

So, That Delaware-Sized Iceberg Is Even Closer To Breaking Off Antarctica “This event will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula.”

Nick Visser
Reporter, The Huffington Post


Earlier this month, researchers warned a 2,000-square-mile chunk of ice was perilously close to breaking away from Antarctica after a major crack in the Larsen C ice shelf grew more than 10 miles in December. Now, that crack has grown even bigger, scientists say. Another massive expansion has left just 12 miles of ice holding a Delaware-sized iceberg from breaking off the continent.

Researchers with Project MIDAS, a British initiative to track the effects of climate change on the Larsen C shelf, said on Thursday that the crack grew an additional 6 miles in the first three weeks of January, based on recent satellite images. The ice shelf is the northernmost major ice sheet in Antarctica.


PROJECT MIDAS
An image released by Project MIDAS shows the expansion of the crack in recent months.
“When it calves, the Larsen C Ice Shelf will lose more than 10% of its area to leave the ice front at its most retreated position ever recorded,” Adrian Luckman, the lead researcher behind the MIDAS Project, said in a post. “This event will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula.”

While the calving of the ice shelf wouldn’t directly contribute to sea level rise (the ice is already floating on top of the water, like ice in a glass), scientists say the collapse could trigger the melting of land ice the Larsen C is currently holding back.

Luckman previously told the BBC he’d be “amazed” if the ice shelf didn’t break away in the next few months, saying: “It’s so close to calving that I think it’s inevitable.”


NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY
An image released by NASA in November of the rift in the Larsen C.
While he noted such predictions are hard to make, in an interview this week he told the outlet the rapid expansion of the crack may portend a quick demise for the section of the shelf, which would create one of the largest icebergs in recorded history.

“My feeling is that this new development suggests something will happen within weeks to months, but there is an outside chance that further growth will be slow for longer than that,” Luckman said.

Two sister ice shelfs in the region, the Larsen A and Larsen B, have already been cleaved from Antarctica in dramatic fashion, in 1995 and 2002, respectively. The Larsen B’s demise was captured in a spectacular video released by NASA that shows the sheet disintegrating into the ocean.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/larsen-c-ice-shelf-crack_us_5881a64ee4b070d8cad1d121

Healthy Juice Cure Diseases

5 REASONS TO EXERCISE

Every day brings with it a new scientific report on the benefits of exercise. Unfortunately, the reports don’t always coincide with each other. Some studies show hugely positive effects, others show hugely negative effects, and some don’t permit any conclusions at all. Although the path of least resistance may lead you to prefer those reports that show no, or harmful, effects of exercise, the truth is that the best way to keep your body and mind in top shape is to be physically active. Almost everyone, no matter what his or her physical condition, can engage in at least some form of bodily exercise. To be most efficient, your exercise regime should follow the guidelines for your age and overall health status. However, each and every one of us can certainly exercise our minds even if our bodies don’t always cooperate.

I’ve culled through the wealth of data on exercise and health to come up with this list of 19 solid reasons to work that body and/or mind of yours. Here’s the short and sweet on these impressive ways that exercise can keep you in the best possible shape.

1.  Builds aerobic power. Your aerobic capacity is your body’s ability to work at maximum capacity by getting oxygen from the air to your body’s tissues. Ordinarily, people lose about 1 percent a year of their aerobic power or, if you’d like to do the math, 10 percent per decade. If you start calculating at the age of 40, this means that people can lose 30 percent of their maximum aerobic capacity by the time they reach age 70. That’s a lot of unnecessary huffing and puffing. Both long-term and short-term exercise training studies show that you can cut this loss in half so that you’re losing 15 precent rather than 30 percent in that 30-year period. Many of the other benefits of exercise stem from this basic fact, so if you remember nothing else from this list, building aerobic power is your most important reason to exercise.

2.  Reduces blood pressure. Chronic hypertension is the number one form of heart disease. The causes of hypertension include the increased plaque in the arteries that builds up from consuming a high-fat diet. Exercise helps reduce your blood pressure, in part, by attacking the plaque in your arteries. As the arteries widen, the blood flows through more freely, and your blood pressure eventually starts to drop. Hypertension also decreases as the result of exercise because your heart, a muscle, is getting a workout. The stronger your heart muscle gets, the greater its ability to pump blood through the arteries, which also helps to reduce your blood pressure.

3.   Lowers Type 2 diabetes risk. You’ve probably heard that an increase in the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes is becoming a world-wide public health crisis. Even if you don’t care about the health of the world, you should care about your own risk of diabetes. The complications of adult-onset Type 2 diabetes pose a serious risk to your physical well-being. By engaging in regular physical exercise, you improve your body’s ability to metabolize glucose, the key to staving off this disease.

4.   Maintains immune functioning. Your immune system is what protects you from infection and other chemical toxins. The immune system also plays a role in maintaining a healthy response to stress (more on this later). Although for many years, researchers talked about “immune senescence” as an inevitable result of aging, we now know that the studies showing these inevitable declines were conducted on people who didn’t exercise. Even short-term exercise programs can reverse some of the deleterious effects of aging on this sensitive, complex, and crucial regulatory system which controls so much of your everyday health.

5.  Reduces body fat. Your BMI, or body mass index, provides an approximate measure of your overall metabolic status. To calculate yours, go to the Centers for Disease Control website. If you’re in the overweight to obese categories now, a regular program of aerobic exercise can bring your BMI down to normal levels mainly by swapping the fat for the fat-free tissues in your body. The good news is that the more you exercise, the more you are able to work off your body fat because muscle “burns off” more calories, effectively speeding up your metabolism.

By  

Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D.Fulfillment at Any Age