Hurricane Joaquinn Not Expected To Directly Impact New York City - RIOC Taking Emergency Preparedness Precautions For Roosevelt Island Says Public Safety Director

Early morning shot of Hurricane #Joaquin from @space_station before reaching #Bahamas. Hope all is safe. #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/3dlwOzU2eq

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) October 2, 2015

New York Times reports:

A powerful and slow-moving hurricane that battered the Bahamas on Friday, causing severe flooding and widespread wind damage, is now forecast to stay out at sea as it moves north, largely sparing the East Coast a direct hit.

The New York City area is not expected to be directly impacted by the storm, Hurricane Joaquin, according to the National Weather Service.

“The models are more in agreement that it will be remaining offshore,” said Carli Buccola, a meteorologist at the Weather Service. “We will experience no direct effects of Joaquin here.”...

Click here for full NY Times article.

According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC):

Please be advised that New York City Emergency Management (OEM) is continuing to monitor Hurricane Joaquin with the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. The Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department (PSD) is communicating daily with OEM in preparation should the storm arrive.

The City encourages the public and visitors to stay informed by signing up for Notify NYC, the City's official source for emergency information by visiting www.nyc.gov/notifynyc or calling 311.

RIOC will periodically issue updates via RIOC Advisories as the storm develops. In the event of an emergency, please call 911. For local assistance, call Public Safety at 212-832-4545.

To learn more about preparing for coastal storms, please visit the Ready New York Guide at www.ready.gov/hurricanes.

Roosevelt Island Director Of Public Safety Jack McManus adds:

We are participating in daily conference calls with both the NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the NYS Office of Emergency Management (SEMO) to keep abreast of the current status of Hurricane Joaquin. At present, the National Weather Service is stating that NYC will not be hit directly by the storm. In fact, as of this morning, it appears that the path that the storm will pass the NYC Metropolitan Area farther out to sea than previously expected.

That being said, we will approach this storm preparation with an abundance of caution. RIOC personal that are deemed "essential", will be prepared to be onsite for the duration of the storm under the direction and control of RIOC President Indelicato.

The Roosevelt Island Tram will be continuously monitored for wind and rain according to established emergency thresholds.

We are coordinating with Roosevelt Island CERT Chief, Howard Polivy with respect to availability and deployment of CERT volunteers.

The Public Safety Department has been dialoguing with Construction Managers and their respective Site Safety Personnel in order to ensure that these sites remain safe by securing all construction related materials in the event of Tropical Storm Level winds which have been predicted.

In the interest of safety for all concerned, we are vetting all Island-Wide scheduled weekend events, subsequently deciding whether we should move forward with these events. The "Fall for Arts Festival", scheduled for Saturday, October 3, 2015, has been postponed and will be rescheduled.

We are dialoguing with representatives from Urban American, Rivercross, Island House, Westview, Related Management (Riverwalk), Manhattan Park, Motorgate, and the Octagon relative to storm preparations and their individual needs.

OEM, as the Coordinator of NYC's response to weather related emergencies will, if the need arises and as conditions dictate, make recommendations to shelter-in place or evacuate and we are prepared to assist and facilitate those potential eventualities.

All relevant information related to ongoing storm conditions will be made available to Island residents, proprietors of Island businesses, workers, and visitors through the Everbridge Communications System.

#HurricaneJoaquin Preparedness: Know your evacuation zone: http://t.co/1SHKePAh4R. More info: http://t.co/pElClOjRrP.

— NYCEM - Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) October 1, 2015

Roosevelt Island NYC Council Member Ben Kallos spoke about emergency preparedness briefly at last night's Cornell Tech Town Hall Meeting. Mr. Kallos said that he would like to do an emergency preparedness Roosevelt Island event and distribute Go-Bags as long as 100 people sign up to attend.



Here's the most recent weather.com forecast for today and Saturday.

Images from Weather.com

More on Roosevelt Island emergency preparedness from previous posts here and here.