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That Empire State of Mind is nice and all but it’s time to get the heck out of dodge folks! Hurricane Irene is coming and officials in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have already declared a State of Emergency in their states. Mayor Bloomberg has also asked something of New Yorkers that has never been asked before — he wants them to evacuate, especially if there home lies in a coastal area. Yup that means Lower Manhattan too! With Hurricane Irene speeding relentlessly toward the East Coast, officials announced plans to evacuate low-lying areas in New York City and shut down the sprawling subway and transit system. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered a mandatory evacuation — something he said the city had never done before — of coastal areas in all five boroughs, including all of the Rockaways; Battery Park City and the financial district in Lower Manhattan; and Governor’s Island. The evacuation covered 250,000 people in and around what the city calls Zone A low-lying areas who, the mayor said, should get out before the storm swept in. “You only have to look at the weather maps to understand how big this storm is and how unique it is,” the mayor said at a news conference, “and it’s heading basically for us.” Underscoring what he and other officials said was the seriousness of the situation, President Obama granted a request from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York to declare the state a federal emergency even before the hurricane arrived, according to the White House. And the mayor’s announcement prompted a cascade of cancellations for Saturday and Sunday: Broadway shows; the Mets’ games against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field; performances by the Dave Matthews Band on Governor’s Island; an outdoor film festival of operas at Lincoln Center, among many others. Officials said the subway shutdown was prompted mainly by wind estimates that suggested the hurricane could rock subway cars where they run above ground. The commuter rail lines that serve Long Island, Westchester County and Connecticut will also be shut down, as will NJTransit operations in New Jersey. NJTransit will suspend service at noon Saturday. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said that a half dozen bridges — including the George Washington Bridge, the Robert F. Kennedy Triboro Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Whitestone Bridge — would be closed if winds reached 60 miles an hour for more than a short time. Officials decided to go ahead with the shutdowns and evacuations, which they had first mentioned as a possibility at a City Hall briefing on Thursday, because, the mayor said, “Irene is now bearing down on us at a faster speed than it was.” As he stepped up the plans on Friday, the city was already evacuating hospitals and nursing homes in low-lying areas. State officials continued arrangements for coordinating emergency services and restoring electricity if the storm does the kind of damage many fear. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said that all lanes of 28-mile stretch of a major highway in Ocean County would go in only one direction — westward — beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday to help speed the trip away from Long Beach Island, which is connected to the mainland by only a single bridge. Those preparations came as states of emergency remained in effect in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The mayor said that 91 evacuation centers and shelters would be open by 4 p.m. Friday for people who could not stay in their homes. The mayor had said on Thursday that the city was ordering nursing homes and hospitals in those areas to evacuate residents and patients beginning at 8 a.m. Friday unless they received special permission from state and city health officials, among them the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, who, the mayor noted, was chairman of the community health sciences department at Tulane University when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. That evacuation order covered 22 hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities for older people. The mayor said city beaches would be closed on Saturday and Sunday and would remain closed “until they can op safely.” “Please, please, please, don’t go in the water,” the mayor said. “Tides will be much stronger than people can cope with.” In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the state was considering widespread precautionary shutdowns of highways at midnight Saturday. He urged residents in areas that had “ever experienced flooding” to take steps to leave those areas by midnight Saturday as well. Mr. Malloy said officials were preparing for “tremendous tree damage” and the loss of electricity across the entire state. “Not just for a few hours,” he added at a briefing on Friday. “Days and weeks.” Can you imagine? Lights out for weeks!!! This storm is the real deal. Please everyone, if you live in one of the areas affected take these warning seriously and make sure you have a plan in place in case disaster strikes. Source

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Hurricane Irene Forces NYC Mayor Bloomberg To Order Mandatory Evacuations For The First Time In History!!!