Nor'easter: New York officials call for coastal evacuations as storm nears
New
storm expected to bring fresh flooding and snow to region that is
still recovering from superstorm Sandy
6
November, 2012
New York officials
are encouraging a partial evacuation of low-lying coastal regions on
Tuesday, ahead of a nor'easter that is expected to bring fresh
flooding and snow to a region that is still recovering from
superstorm Sandy.
"The
National Weather Service has put our city on a high-wind watch and
coastal flood watch," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, in an update
on recovery efforts in New York.
Cold
weather continues to pose a risk to thousands of residents who are
still without power after last week's storm. Volunteers and officials
will go door to door in an attempt to help elderly and vulnerable
residents evacuate properties left uninhabitable by Sandy.
As
many as 40,000 people could need resettlement, according to city
officials. Bloomberg has said that adequate shelters are available
and that police patrol cars will tour areas still cut off from power,
using loudhailers to encourage residents to seek refuge.
The
operation has been given added urgency by the approach of a new storm
that is due to hit New York and neighbouring New Jersey on Wednesday.
The nor'easter could dump wet snow on trees, raising the risk of
downed power lines.
As
of Tuesday, some 91,000 customers in New York City remained without
electricity. With much of the blackout affecting coastal areas, it is
feared that hypothermia could lead to more deaths; more than 100
deaths have been attributed to Sandy in the US.
At
a press briefing on Tuesday, Bloomberg said that in the coming days
the temperature was likely to fall to the mid-30s fahrenheit, but
would feel more like the upper 20s due to wind chill factor. In
addition, the mayor said, tidal surges of up to four-and-a-half feet
could bring flooding to coastal areas.
Bloomberg
said that in officials would urge people to leave a "handful of
low lying areas", but added that they were not ordering the
mandatory evacuation of any zones.
In
a separate briefing Tuesday, state governor Andrew Cuomo urged
caution over the incoming storm.
"We
live by the adage 'prepare for the worst, hope for the best',"
he said. The governor also said that he believed periods of extreme
weather were likely to become common in the coming years. "I
have been governor less than two years and we have gone through two
terrible storms already," he said. "I think that is a
symptom, I think these extreme weather patterns will continue."
Cuomo
also maintained pressure on utilities companies over their perceived
slow response to fixing broken power lines.
He
acknowledged that the number of homes in the state without
electricity was "way down" on recent days, but said that
the current situation was "still not OK".
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