Everyone Ready For Irene???

[wolfie]

Looking at it from the UK it looks like it was very hit and miss, some people will have had a nightmare whilst others will wonder what all the fuss was about.

[kingdom warrior]

Seems like a lot of newscasters wont admit it wasn't as bad as they expected.

They seem to be going out of their way trying convince people how bad it was.

So True...I swear they were looking for anything to over hype it.......sure power loss sucks but come on....they were looking for anything to sell fear.....

[kingdom warrior]

Basically 100% just like Gloria in 1985: Hits NJ, slows down in NYC, bad storm but not life shattering. Flooding and trees down in areas where that would happen in a normal storn and that is about it. Blah. The panic and hoarding caused me more stress than this did.

So true man, I had to shut the Tv off I felt like they were selling unnecessary fear.......

[Wee67]

Fortunately, the storm fell within the weaker range of what was predicted. That said, the storm wasn't as bad as it might have been for some people. For others it was almost devastating. Just because you weren't hit, it doesn't make it hype.

Yes, some people overreact. Hoarding is an odd response in big cities. Personally, I have never gone more than a day or two without the luxuries of life, let alone the basics. How peole handle information can very greatly.

No single person's existence becomes the universal truth. Many people lost their home, others just suffered serious water damage. An entire town in NY state suffered very desructive water damage. Overall, early estimates say 2-3 billion dollars in damages occurred. Another 5 billion was lost in other costs (police, fire, lost wages, income loss, etc.)

Those of us with damage- we got hit and we need to fix it. Those of us who didn't get hit, well, thank goodness you didn't suffer any harm.

[BlackKnight]

There was a few people that died because of this ... including I think an 11 year Old Boy from what my news said lastnight. MY Son is 11 ...., I dunno if I would be right in the head if that happened to him ...

[johnmiic]

We had some broken branches in Bayside, tho I hadn't driven anywhere on Sunday so there could be more damage. I just haven't seen it yet. We lost a lot of trees in a nearby tornado a year or more back.

It may seem like the media is pumping this up but it's better to err on the side of caution. We got real lucky. They were expecting a Catagory 3 but we got a Catagory 1 which soon went to tropical depression. They warned of 50-80 mph winds but we got 24-40 mph. There were also Tornado watches in effect until 5am Sunday morning. A night-time tornado is not something I want to wake up to.



There's my car. Narrowly avoided falling debris again! Many spots were empty bcause people knew the trees here seem to fall or break branches even in good weather if it gets windy. Not the guy behind me tho. His car is a BMW I think. He's gonna pay big time even if it's just scratched paint. When I went out later in the day even more branches had fallen due to strong gusts to the right of that guys car. I couldn't take it anymore and moved my car to a safer spot.

[MicromanZone]

Fortunately, the storm fell within the weaker range of what was predicted. That said, the storm wasn't as bad as it might have been for some people. For others it was almost devastating. Just because you weren't hit, it doesn't make it hype.

Actually it is hype for the reason you said. The news reports New York is going to get hit but the focus mainly on New York CITY. Completely ignoring the fact the storm is affecting all of New York STATE and the TRI-STATE AREA. So what you end up having are ridiculous reports about flooding on Wall Street which means 100% nothing. Tons of hoarding in inland areas of NYC that will never get anything more than a few tree branches down. And maybe a few car accidents from panicked dinks who are out driving in a storm. And guess what? Anyone “smart” enough to drive in an intense storm can’t be “warned” in any way about anything.

What $%@#! me off about the reporting is Bloomberg is yammering about high winds after the storm passes. But few to no stations in NYC are reporting on the flooding in the Hudson Valley towns a little north of NYC. Or the fact that Connecticut got so drenched with rain that 1/2 of the state lost power? You might think it’s obvious how such reporting wouldn’t happen for an NYC focused storm, but this is the TRI-STATE AREA and a lot of people live outside of NYC and they were at risk.

Also the other issue is areas such as Far Rockaway in Queens or Red Hook & Breezy Point in Brooklyn ALWAYS GET FLOODED ANYWAY. These are people who know that if any storm comes, they have to be ready. So they are always ready. Hyping this up as if there would be flooding in Midtown Manhattan is nuts.

And past all of that all hurricanes and tropical storms loose power going north. That never changes. That’s why all the weather prediction maps had charts that almost showed a cliff-like graph of wind speeds dropping: The second storms get close to New Jersey and hit the colder waters up here, the storm’s fuel is gone and it’s slowly dying. 100% no surprise.

Personally past the surprise earthquake tremors we got we actually had a WORSE rainstorm a few weeks back where 7-8 inches of rain fell in one night. Nobody mentions that. Why? Nowhere as dramatic as a “Hurricane.”

Bloomberg was raked across the coals for under-reacting to the snowstorms this past winter and being out of town. In this case he’s over-compensating. If the city did only 70% of what they did all would have been fine.

But I will say this, Bloomberg’s “talking to the servants” Spanish was hilarious! Check this Twitter feed out: Miguel Bloombito

[Wee67]

I don't want to appear as apologist for the news indusrty and I definitely don't want to devlve a toy board into a discussion on news (though I clearly think such a discussion has value.). I also want to thank you for expressing your thoughts. It sincerely helps me do my job. There is definitely truth in the accusation that some outlets focus too much on certain aspects, but I do feel the need to address some things.

They were expecting a Catagory 3 but we got a Catagory 1 which soon went to tropical depression. They warned of 50mph winds but we got 24-40 mph.

I'm not sure who you were watching, but I know that here in NYC (your neighborhood), we NEVER predicted anything close to a Cat 3. While the storm was still in the Bahamas, we said there that if the storm took a path over the ocean it would possibly gain strength beyond a 1. It didn't take that path and the days leading up to the hurricane we clearly said it would be a Cat 1 or a TS. We would have been remiss not to talk about that possibility when that possibility existed. We would have also been remiss not to say that it was still early and there was a lot room for different directions in the storm's path. We did.

John, I hope you'll stick with Eyewitness News in the future

Actually it is hype for the reason you said. The news reports New York is going to get hit but the focus mainly on New York CITY. Completely ignoring the fact the storm is affecting all of New York STATE and the TRI-STATE AREA.

Actually, of the 16 reporters involved in our coverage yesterday, only 5 were in the city. I do not think that is "completely ignoring" the rest of the area when most of reporting comes from that area. Respectfully, I have to completely disagree with that evaluation when it comes to my newsroom.

The storm's immediate impact was the coast. As the floods moved into the Hudson Valley, we had reports from Tuxedo, Windham and Margarertville and also, Elmsford, Rye and Mamornek (West Chester). We also had someone in CT, but only Fairfield Co is in our coverage. Those reports took up, by far, the majority of our airtime. I cannot see what the local CT stations did in their markets. We had no reporters on Wall St.

Also, remember that locations are chosen based on the many, many possible places that will be affected. Those decison have to be made before the storm hits. Those crews are then put in hotels before the storm hits and locked into their positions since they cannot move around a lot during the storm.

As for the city, we talked about possible flooding in Battery Park. We never talked about midtown going under water.

I can only imagine that you do not watch any of the local stations here because we all did extensive coverage of the recent 7-8" rainstorm. I have to disagree, however. The last storm was not nearly the rainfall from this storm. The last did hammer some areas (ask our member from Staten Island), but the last storm did not come close to impacting the region the way this one did. Several spots got 7, 8 even 10" last time. This time saw many, many areas got 10" rainfall AND several feet of flood water. You say coverage this time was too focused on one area and then are bothered that a storm that affected a limited area didn't get unlimited coverage.

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I realize there is definitely hype and sensationalism in news, but to broadly sweep everything in to stereoptypes would be akin to saying all toy collectors are all overweight virgins, living in their mother's basments and spending all day on their computers arguing over who would win in a fight, Superman or the Hulk.

BTW, an early fight leans to Supes but any prolonged battle goes green.

[Mikey]

During the storm I was floating between CNN, Fox News and 69-Allentown.

Sorry Bill, we actually don't get channel-7-NYC here in the Poconos --- it's not fair because we do get 2-NYC and 4-NYC ... .

Weird.

[Wee67]

During the storm I was floating between CNN, Fox News and 69-Allentown.

Sorry Bill, we actually don't get channel-7-NYC here in the Poconos --- it's not fair because we do get 2-NYC and 4-NYC ... .

Weird.

Assuming you get Ch. 6 out of Philly for ABC. They are so hugely popular in the Philly area, it makes sense for your town. Pike Co is the only area that falls into the NY market.

[SUP-Ronin]

As usual, it looks like the media did more damage than the actual storm. It's probably good to take warnings seriously, and all and I'm all about being prepared, but man they really tried to make the most of this one.

[Wee67]

As usual, it looks like the media did more damage than the actual storm.

Its true-
The storm did over 7 billion dollars worth of damage.
The media - anchor hairspray use did 8 million worth to the ozone alone

The storm killed 21 people
The media's mere mention of the possibilty of the storm caused 42 to people to leap from windows. Fortunately 6 were only from the first floor, vitims still smarting.

Storm - 4 million without power
Media - busy pulling fuses from your basement as we speak and leaving roller skates on the now-darkened steps

Storm - thousands still forced into shelters
Media - not only bulldozed entire developments, replaced with tiki-themed lean-to's

Storm - no Amtrak service from Fl to Boston while tracks and stations still under water
Media- have blocked the rest of the nation's rail lines with petticoat-wearing woman tied to the track. Now twirling pencil mustaches

they really tried to make the most of this one.

I don't know if its "the most," but we did spend almost $200,000 covering the storm this weekend. But this was just part of our plan "to make the most of this." We also lost about 1 MILLION dollars in ad revenue as we dropped commercials to stay on. But how this brilliantly "makes the most" of it, if I do say myself, was all this cost and income loss comes on the heels of our corporate bosses at Disney telling us we need to again cut our budget (and employees). This was all a plan so we can thumbs our noses at the people who pay us every week. MWOOO HOO HAA HAA!!!

[toys2cool]

I feel bad for the media sometimes cause it's a lose lose situation for them...if they give to much coverage and warnings then they're over doing it, if they don't give you as much then it's their fault so many got hurt or killed (New Orleans )

Listen no matter how small or how large, you should never take mother nature lightly...if they say to evacuate,do it if you value your life(Is it really worth taking a chance on life? )

Me living in Miami we get false alarms all the time , but it doesn't matter to me, we prepare the exact same way everytime

I remember idiots laughing an hour before Hurricane Andrew hit, saying it wasn't coming or it wasn't gonna do much...once it was done, half of my neighborhood was gone, My roof was gone my aunts home was destroyed...so needless to say we take the news and these warnings very seriously

[johnmiic]

I'm not sure who you were watching, but I know that here in NYC (your neighborhood), we NEVER predicted anything close to a Cat 3.

John, I hope you'll stick with Eyewitness News in the future

LOL! I don't have cable currently so my news was internet based. I may have read that off AOL News/Huff Post or on the Google Storm Tracker. From what I was reasing Fri/Sat. they saw Irene was picking up speed after leaving NC. They were expecting the strength of Irene could get as high as Cat. 3 as she sped up towards NYC. We know that didn't happen but that's what I was seeing on the net at the time. Not on TV. I would watch ABC Eyewitness News regularly when I get cable again if for no other reason that to see Michelle Charlesworth, Tony Yates or Diana Williams at the anchor desk.

[MicromanZone]

I don't know if its "the most," but we did spend almost $200,000 covering the storm this weekend. But this was just part of our plan "to make the most of this." We also lost about 1 MILLION dollars in ad revenue as we dropped commercials to stay on. But how this brilliantly "makes the most" of it, if I do say myself, was all this cost and income loss comes on the heels of our corporate bosses at Disney telling us we need to again cut our budget (and employees). This was all a plan so we can thumbs our noses at the people who pay us every week. MWOOO HOO HAA HAA!!!

What station do you work for in what area if you are going to come here and honestly over-react and—indeed—apologize and defend the media tooth an nail like this? I saw you mention “Eyewitness News?” In NYC? Or where else? What call letters and numbers?

The reporting for everyone everywhere was over the top even if there were signs of reason involved. I also don’t watch TV reports since I am one of those “weirdos” who ditched their TV a few years back. Mainly got my info via the radio and the Internet. So please keep on criticizing what “I watched” when you clearly have no idea what you are talking about and seem hellbent on smacking down anyone who dares say anything.