The Perfect Storm

[RWebb]

this is very sad, but it will happen again; and will probably get worse

Hurricane Sandy and Climate Change - ABC News

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by intakexhaust

Latest from AP:
(AP) — The Coast Guard used ships and airplanes to search the Atlantic on Tuesday for the captain of the sunken HMS Bounty as the sailor's wife held on to a sliver of hope that he had survived the harrowing ordeal.

The Coast Guard was also optimistic Robin Walbridge, 63, of St. Petersburg, Fla., could still be alive in his blazing red survival suit 90 miles off the North Carolina coast. Walbridge went overboard early Monday when the replica 18th-century sailing vessel, made famous in Hollywood adventure films, rolled over in 18-foot waves.

Walbridge's wife waited in their in St. Petersburg home to hear any word, surrounded by friends and crying often.

"He's been in many storms. He's been doing this a good portion of his life. He's been in lots of hairy situations and he's very familiar with the boat. Same boat for 17 years, he knows it like the back of his hand," Claudia McCann told The Associated Press by telephone.

The searched for Walbridge was hampered by 15-feet waves, but the water temperature was about 77 degrees.

"There's a lot of factors that go into survivability. Right now we're going to continue to search. Right now we're hopeful," Coast Guard Capt. Joe Kelly said.

A decision on how much longer to search will come later Tuesday.

The Coast Guard rescued 14 crew members of the Bounty by helicopter Monday. Hours later, they found crew member Claudene Christian, 42, unresponsive. She was later declared dead. The rest of the crew was in good condition.

When the Bounty set sail last week, Walbridge believed he could navigate the ship around the storm. After two days in rough seas, he realized his journey would be far more difficult.

"I think we are going to be into this for several days," Walbridge said in a message posted Sunday on the vessel's Facebook site, which reads like a ship's log of its activities. "We are just going to keep trying to go fast."

His wife last heard from him on Saturday when he sent her an email. He told her not to worry about the hurricane.

"He said, 'it's going to be fine,'" she said. "He said they were prepared. They were prepared. He was just watching to see what the hurricane was going to do."

By Monday morning, the vessel had started taking on water, its engines failed and the crew of the stately craft had to abandon ship as it went down in the immense waves.

By the time the first rescue helicopter arrived, all that was visible of the ship was a strobe light atop the mighty vessel's submerged masts. The roiling Atlantic Ocean had claimed the rest.

The final hours of the HMS Bounty, as it was officially named, were as dramatic as the movies she starred in.

The ship was originally built for the 1962 film "Mutiny on the Bounty" starring Marlon Brando, and it was featured in several other films over the years, including one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

The ship's connection to its namesake went back to the original Bounty, whose crew famously took over the ship from its commander, Lt. William Bligh, in April 1789. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian, and Claudene Christian said she was his great-great-great-great-great granddaughter.

Claudene Christian told a Canadian newspaper she was familiar with her background, and applied to sail on the Bounty replica. She was accepted despite a lack of sailing experience, with hopes her marketing skills could make the ship more popular.

"I was at the helm the first week and said, 'Captain, are you sure you're comfortable having a Christian at the helm? I wasn't sure if he got my joke," Christian told The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in August.

Rochelle Smith, 44, met Christian this summer in Nova Scotia.

"She loved the Bounty. She absolutely loved it. She was so happy to be on it and doing something that she found that she loved to do," said Smith, a medical transcriptionist who lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

The vessel left Connecticut on Thursday with a crew of 11 men and five women, ranging in age from 20 to 66. Everyone aboard knew the journey could be treacherous.

Coast Guard video of the rescue showed crew members being loaded one by one into a basket before the basket was hoisted into the helicopter.

When they returned to the mainland, some were wrapped in blankets, still wearing the blazing red survival suits they put on to stay warm in the chilly waters.

The survivors received medical attention and were to be interviewed for a Coast Guard investigation. The Coast Guard did not make them available to reporters.

The Bounty's captain learned to sail at age 10, according to his biography on the Bounty's website. Prior to the Bounty, he served as first mate on the H.M.S. Rose — the Bounty's sister ship.

"The ship was almost like his home," said Smith, who met Walbridge in 2010 when she sailed the Bounty. "That's where he spent most of his time was aboard the ship. He was so full of history and so interesting to talk to. And he knew his sailing stuff."

Thanks for the update Intake. I have built a couple of wooden ship models one about the size of the Bounty. I just keep looking at it and thinking how did these guys even sail them in such dire straits.

[dw1]

ok, my Hurricane Sandy experience so far (fyi, I'm in north-central NJ):

Lost power, but only for short periods. (Last year's Halloween storm took out my electricity for a full week.) However, I do have relatives who lost power staying with us.

No notable river or stream flooding in my area, unlike Irene (the damage from which we are still fixing). Further east, however, the flooding was significant.

I was out for a bit today (helping out, chainsaw in hand) and until then, I didn't realize the number of downed branches, uprooted trees, etc. Major roads were blocked. Entire towns without power. Trees sitting at 45 degree angles supported only by power lines.

Imho, the news media usually hypes storm damage to a large extent. This one really is as bad as it appears.

[dw1]

Here's a good one....

New Jersey Residents Avoid Rising Floodwater By Climbing To Top Of Chris Christie | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by johnco

not trying to make lght of the situation up there but thats a lot of destruction from a catagory 1 hurricane, I hate to see a cat 3 or bigger hit you guys.. I'm still waiting for some genius to say you need to move the cities away from the water and onto higher ground like was suggested to do with New Orleans

Most of New Orleans is below seal level, right?
It's right near the ocean, right?
The only thing keeping it from turning back into a swamp is a wall of dirt, right?

At least put the damn thing on stilts or something.

[clutch-monkey]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

Just watched an interview with guy in NYC down near Houston St parked his Jag on the street and was complaining that it got flooded in waist deep water. He made certain to say it was parked legally and seemed very disappointed that it was damaged. Sounded to me like he was in the process of blaming the city for his lose.

Gotta love the audacity if that is what his plan is. Perhaps I'm just too cynical.

NYC does look like it has been rocked as well as any locations on the coastline.

doesn't surprise me - when the floods hit here a lot of people living beyond their means with money owing on them 'accidentally' left their cars in streets in the path of rising floodwaters..

[gr8fl4porsche]

Even during times of terrible tragedy you still have to laugh.

What is this guy hoping to accomplish? Caption says he was readying his car to be towed from the ditch. How? By tying a rope to the radiator support?

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

Even during times of terrible tragedy you still have to laugh.

What is this guy hoping to accomplish? Caption says he was readying his car to be towed from the ditch. How? By tying a rope to the radiator support?

Nope he is trying to pull the front of his car off to be sure it is totaled.

[NY65912]

John, thanks, glad we're all safe.

The mayor (although I don't care for him) and our govenor, and the police and fire departments along with other city agencies have stepped up and are dping a very good job of dealing with this mess. Obama told the govenors of NY, NJ and Conn to call him directly for any assistance.

Breezy Point, the area is known as the Irish Riveria because it is populated by firemen and policemen.

This is a tragedy.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/files/BreezyPoint400.jpg

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/files/4-buzzfeed.jpeg

Raw Video: Six-alarm fire in wake of Hurricane Sandy - YouTube

But ya know what, we'll rebuild and be better than ever. I guess you just gotta be a New Yawker to understand.

[RWebb]

sammy, putting many buildings in NoLa on stilts is exactly what is being done

the nice thing about lower Manhattan is that the lower floors of the buildings already constitute "stilts" - tho the utility functions will need to be relocated

[TimT]

Those houses in Breezy are just tinderboxes.. They were built as cheap summer cottages, and now are lived in year round!!!

I had 6' of water in my basement, just shy of the first floor joists...

No electricity, I was with no power for 7 days from Irene.... I expect this might take a bit longer...

Coleman Powermate to the rescue!! just keeps on a few lights and the beer in my fridge cold.. I have a wood burning stove for heat, and a gas stove ( 70 y/o lit by match ) over 4 hours of run time on 1.5 gallons...


Mike I might need a new Weil-McLain SGO3.... ;-)

[TimT]

One odd thing is phone service sucks.... but you can send texts

I can email using a 3G aircard

[Heel n Toe]

Has anyone heard from Vinnie?

[intakexhaust]

Different day and age but amazing when they raised Chicago in 1860. Excerpt:

[jwasbury]

Originally Posted by Miguel Antonett

What's the latest Jacob, are you, wife, dogs, cars, garage, tools, boat... OK?

Me wife, dogs all ok. I moved the cars to a parking deck on Sunday...best move ever. Water was chest to chin deep in my garage. Tools and workshop completely underwater.

Boat looked surprisingly good when I checked this AM...Marina is a mess but just about all boats were floating.

thanks for checking in Miguel

[enzo1]

Jalopnik.com Updates

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I've been in central VA for the last couple of days - very minimal impact here. It was a bit cold today and occasionally drizzly today although we did see the sun briefly too. Yesterday was lots of rain and occasional wind gusts that would blow the tree branches a bit - nothing too noteworthy. In eastern PA (where I was coming from on Sunday) the rain was a lot heavier but the wind was similarly not too bad. I guess back up in New England they got some nasty weather Monday night but Tuesday was a pretty nice day overall (I heard in the 70s with partly sunny skies). There are occasional places without power and naturally the coastal/low-lying areas got inundated but this certainly could have been a lot worse than it was. Sorry for those who did suffer losses and who are living without power now. I suspect I'll head home to NH in a week or so to find a whole lot of leaves/branches/crap down in my yard that I'll have to clean up but that's about it. I just hope the power didn't go out for too long - I'd hate to have to throw out a freezer full of frozen food that had gone through a freeze/thaw/refreeze cycle. Best to all who were more coastal and took the brunt of this thing with the storm surge/high tide combination. I hope this is a wake-up call to government officials and utility companies about the sad state of our infrastructure. It'd be nice to see some much-needed upgrades come out of this mess.

[sc_rufctr]

Watching Letterman. This is the second show without an audience. Still trying to take it all in. Such a huge event. My sister lives in Denver but her husband is in New York right now for work. He's fine but his rental car is "missing".

Sending prayers and good wishes to all affected by this storm
Chin up everyone... Things will be back to normal before you now it.

[widgeon13]

Rental car missing in NYC is a actually funny and a blessing. No parking fee to pay.

There is so much destruction in the NYC area it defies description. My son flies into Manhattan frequently and lands at 34 St Heliport. He said that had major damage, not surprising but certainly a low priority for repair. He flew back from Chicago yesterday morning and said the sky (radios) were eerily quiet because there were so few aircraft flying. It's looking like a long haul.

[pwd72s]

I'm worried about RoninLB and his bride. Long Beach is EAST of Manhattan...from what I've seen on the tube, the whole community could be in very deep doo-doo.

So, this on top of Ron's difficulty?