nyc has a lot of windows that predates safety glass. i'm sure plywood was in high demand, as was milk, bread, eggs, and D batteries. taping glass is better then nothing, and better then possibly large shards flying.

i wonder if everyone is making french toast this morning...i'm wondering if we're going to have one more surge from this storm....baby surge 2012 :)

I haven't taped my windows since I lived in NH and Gloria hit in 1985. When I moved to South Carolina, no one taped their windows...probably because FEMA and NOAA say it's pointless. We'd just close the blinds and curtains.

I'd advise everyone to get a hurricane lamp and a bottle of lamp oil just to have around. They can be used in any type of storm that knocks the power out including Nor' Easters. In fact, ours got more use when we lived in NH than when we lived in SC. Battery lamps are more convenient, but oil lamps last longer and you won't be totally screwed if you can't find batteries.

oh god. gloria. sooo remember that storm. our local top 40 station played gloria over and over and over and over...and over. on loop. there are people who do have the oil lamps, but quite a few who live in the cities all over the northeast try to stay away from the oil lamps because they're a fire hazard.

Just a tip on taping - people discourage taping because if the glass breaks, the way that it's taped up currently - those "large shards" that they were trying to avoid - will happen anyway.

Hurricane lamps are safer than candles. If you don't have batteries, they're the next best thing. And during a disaster, sometimes you have to go with the next best thing.

Lamp oil is made out of paraffin, just like candles, and about as flammable. It's less volatile than alcohol, which I'm sure many New Yorkers keep in their home.

They're safer than candles because the flame is enclosed in a glass chimney. It prevents the flame from going out due to wind, or the wind blowing the flame catching something nearby on fire. They're less likely to catch the whole place on fire if knocked down. They're easier and safer to carry than candles. And you only need one to light a room as opposed to several candles.

Oil lamps do not explode when thrown at a wall as some movies suggest. You can't make a Molotov cocktail with lamp oil.

i wanted to point out something i heard on my local 5 o'clock news channel. if out of power for long periods, one can bring in those solar powered walk-way lights in the evening...if they didn't blow or wash away.

buying a set and putting the box set in with the house emergency package might be a good thing - for an extended power outage.

it was the first time a hurricane landed in new jersey - and so very close to a hurricane landing in nyc - it just dropped down in category. people died from this storm. lost homes. maybe lost some four legged pets. millions lost electricity.

lots of damage all the way up the coast.

i live inland, in pennsylvania. my city is on the delaware river - at the fork of the lehigh river. plus we have bushkill creek (which is flooded) which divides our school district. the lehigh river also divides our school district. we also had mudslides down onto roads. but nothing compared to the coastlines

tomorrow is suppose to be the first day of school, which was canceled saturday. we're expecting the delaware river to crest tomorrow well above flood level. rt 611, that travels alongside the delaware is expected to be closed and all the homes along that route is expected to flood. from new hope, pa (which is route 32) all the way up the ny border.

this wasn't a small summer rain storm. it was over 1000 miles wide. and not something the northeast sees all too often.

Alan, I'll see your "little summer rain storm" and raise it by the $7 billion (estimated) in damages, and the 21 lives lost, as a result of Irene. Instead of being an a$$hole, why don't you do something useful and go help a family whose 100-year-old home has washed away downstream because they had the temerity to build within 80 yards of a Vermont river.

For someone who wants to use the phrase "drama queen," isn't your prose selection a bit on the hyperbolic side? You're kind of doing some overkill on criticizing this one news outlet for "drama," when I have yet to find a radio or TV station that has *not* devoted significant coverage to the storm.

It wasn't Katrina/Rita (which I had to evacuate for when I lived in TX) but it is a newsworthy event because:

- this region of the country does not often see hurricanes or tropical storms. While most people did a good job of responding to requests that they evacuate, in many cases they did not know how to prepare their homes or even what food to buy (for the many who bought lots of cold cuts, those will go bad if your power goes out and you don't have access to ice)

- more than 6 million people lost their electrical power

- the storm surge of several feet topped rain totals from 6-10" and so washed out roads, destroyed National Historic Landmarks, and will delay people's ability to recover or return to their residences

So sorry for those of you who see this as a minor event, but the graphic visual evidence suggests that it is more serious than you seem to think.

Thank you, hoosierprof. I no longer feel the need, now, to tell Alan007 (superspy?) how very GOP that asinine comment appears to be.