Did New York Ignore Warnings About a Sandy Type event?

[WeatherGuesser]

Lots of news articles hitting the web over the last day or so to the effect that this kind of thing has been discussed for as much as 30 years and that NY has basically done little or nothing to prepare.

What about other east coast metro areas like Boston and Baltimore? I'm not that familiar with local geography and the coastlines. Are they also susceptible to surge flooding?

[CrazyC83]

Lots of news articles hitting the web over the last day or so to the effect that this kind of thing has been discussed for as much as 30 years and that NY has basically done little or nothing to prepare.

What about other east coast metro areas like Boston and Baltimore? I'm not that familiar with local geography and the coastlines. Are they also susceptible to surge flooding?

For all the major east cities, they are vulnerable in a certain setup but they are different for each:

Boston - needs a strong wind out of the east to push Massachusetts Bay in. Most dangerous would be a storm making landfall in Rhode Island moving due north (I have never heard of such), OR a storm on a Sandy-like track near western Cape Cod.

Providence - a Carol or 1938-like track would be most dangerous. However, of all the east coast cities, it is the most protected with a storm surge barrier.

Philadelphia, Wilmington DE - most dangerous would be a storm moving due north or slightly west of due north near/over Chesapeake Bay with a first landfall near Chincoteague, pushing Delaware Bay up. Sandy brought a record surge but was not a worst-case scenario.

Baltimore - needs a strong wind out of the south to push Chesapeake Bay up. Most likely a landfall near Virginia Beach moving slightly west of due north would be the worst case.

Washington - needs a strong wind out of the south-southeast to push the tidal Potomac River estuary up. Something similar to the 1933 storm or Isabel with the size/strength of Sandy would be the worst case.

[brunota2003]

Yes, there have been discussions on what could happen to NYC for years and years...but there hasn't been a viable threat for years and years, also. So people think "It'll never happen." and nothing gets done to help when it does finally happen.

[jinftl]

Surge damage would have happened no matter what...of course warnings and evacuation orders being heeded saves lives, but it does not save property. It is a miracle that given the many millions of folks in the direct path of this system, the death toll could have been so much worse from drowning. This wasn't Katrina...water wasn't over people's rooftops mile after mile. It just wasn't to that level.

But let's not think that the images we saw of flooding in the subway, flooding in lower manhattan, brooklyn, queens, etc could have been prevented if people somehow how just paid attention or the NHC did more. Warnings being heeded can and would have saved lives...the damage done from an overpowering surge can not be stopped. That concept is not something especially us Americans are uncomfortable with...there must be someone, some agency, some officials, some segment of the population to blame for not warning enough, not heeding warnings, etc....because then we can ease our minds by saying that if people did what they should, none of this would have happened.

Warnings save lives...one life saved is enough justification for that...surge damage is not lessened when a hurricane warning is issued vs a high wind warning and coastal flood warning.