Preppers

Buenos dias.

I hope those of you in the northeast still without power find yourselves in the range of AC/DC again very soon.

I’ve been reading some fascinating stories about the lengths to which people have gone, especially from downtown (below, say, 40th Street), to find power enough to charge their cellphones.

Hey, I’d be right there in line behind you (although I’d try the Google solar recharging tchotchke I got several years ago first).

I’ve also been reading about the comeback of pay phones.  I didn’t even know there WERE any payphones left in NYC, but yes, there’s actually some 12,000 of them (down from 35,000 at their peak).

Because I was a New York City bike messenger once upon a time, I am very familiar with NYC pay phones. When I used to traverse the streets of Manhattan riding around moving vehicles like a crazy person, I had two pieces of technology: My Sony Walkman, and a beeper.

Whenever that beeper went off, I would head straight for a pay phone so I could call into my dispatch to grab another pick up.

But to imagine that a landline pay phone was my last line of communication defense…well, that’s what it’s come to for so many New Yorkers.

Some other good news I’m hearing: 14 of the city’s 23 subway lines were expected to open (though the 3, 7, B, C, E, G, and Q trains remain dark), which should go a long way towards alleviating some of the ridiculous auto traffic seen in NYC yesterday.

And the Cuomo plan to require three folks to a vehicle coming into Manhattan, though a heavy hand, is also not a bad idea, at least until more public transport can get up and running.

I’m also amazed that LaGuardia Airport opened this morning, especially after seeing those flood waters leaning up towards the jetways just two days ago. I imagine there will be lines of folks wanting to get out of town.

As for me, I’m sitting back taking some notes for my own disaster “crash” kit.  No use not turning these lemons into lemonade.

First on my list, other than plenty of fresh water and three days of non-perishable food: One of those combination hand cranked cell-phone recharger, flashlight, and weather radio. I’ve read about too many people who just didn’t know what the —— was going on, and that alone would drive me absolutely crazy.

A small, portable stove with a minimum week’s worth of fuel.

Small packages of dried instant coffee and powdered Gatorade.

Some sealed packages of beef jerky, power bars, and MREs (because I’ve seen so many complain about eating only bananas and power bars for three days stuck in their apartments)

Cash, and plenty of it.

Tell me what else I’m forgetting, my NYC area kinsmen.

Ready.gov had a whole list of basic and additional emergency supplies that’s worth a look see here.

Hang in there, NY, CT, and NJ.  You’re almost back up on your feet, and the rest of the country is cheering you on.

Sandy’s Data Center Impact

Well, I sat and watched the coverage of Superstorm Sandy last night, flipping between the major cable news networks and The Weather Channel, and also trying to keep up with my northeast friends via Facebook and Twitter.

You could almost mirror match the power outages with the suddenly disappearing Facebook and Twitter streams, as one friend after another dropped from the social radar screen.

Having lived in New York City and its surroundings for the better part of eight years of my life, I was completely sympathetic to their plight, and quite frankly, astonished at some of the images I was witnessing.

I’ve been out doing some research to try and understand the negative IT impact, and it didn’t take long.

This story indicated that the flooding had hobbled two data center buildings in Lower Manhattan, mainly because it took out diesel pumps (located in basements) that were needed to refuel generators.

Datagram’s 33 Whitehall basement was also inundated, taking out some major Web sites, including Gawker, Gizmodo, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, and Media. The attached screenshot demonstrates the message I tried going there just this morning.

Ars Technica also had a post detailing some of the outages, in which they suggested that “customers relying on hosting providers and cloud services may want to build systems that can fail over across multiple regions,” but that “even the most extensive preparations may not be enough to stay online in the face of a storm like Hurricane Sandy.”‘

IBM’s own Business Continuity Services had this message for IBM clients posted on its home page overnight:

The IBM Business Continuity and Resiliency team is monitoring the status of Hurricane Sandy and has activated our Emergency Operations Center to ensure we are prepared to assist our customers throughout the storm. Our delivery teams are assembled in BCRS recovery centers in Sterling Forest, NY, Gaithersburg, MD and Boulder CO and all facilities are secure and ready to support all client declarations. We are proactively assessing the potential impact to our customers who are projected to be in the path of the storm, and our delivery program management team will provide regular updates to our clients as the storm progresses, and will be available to respond to any questions throughout the week. If you need to call IBM to place us on alert, or to declare a disaster, please call 1-877-IBM-REC1 (877-426-7321)

Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is rapidly approaching the Atlantic coast of the U.S.. As of 8 a.m., the huge storm was producing sustained winds of 85 miles per hour after turning north northwest toward the coastline of New Jersey, according to the National Hurricane Center. The center of the storm is now moving at 20 m.p.h., a significant speedup from earlier in the morning.

If it’s Monday, it must be time for a Hurricane.

And I’m not referring to the cocktail emanating from Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans.

Hurricane Sandy is drifting up the Atlantic coast and is expected to make landfall later this afternoon, probably somewhere in New Jersey.

But as of 8:52 CST this morning, she’s already having an impact well in to New York City. I’ve already seen Twitpics of Battery Park City starting to surrender to the surge, which is truly frightening considering how much of the storm is still yet to come.

As an FYI, both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have eliminated their paywalls and are making their content free, if you’re looking for up-to-the-minute updates on the storm.

YouTube is also streaming The Weather Channel (where NBC’s Al Roker was just seen trying to stay vertical at Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey).

I spoke with a good friend of mine who lives on the edge of Cobble Hill (in Brooklyn), and he indicated the water had not yet lapped over the piers there, but that it was likely only a matter of time.  Forecasters are expecting a 6-to-11 surge when high tide strikes around 8 tonight.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo just held a press conference and announced the closing of both the Holland and Brooklyn Battery tunnels at 2 P.M. EST.

If you’re interested in seeing more detaila about the storm, Google’s offering up its “Crisis Map” here, and a more specific look at NYC here.

On Twitter, the National Hurricane Center is offering facts and tips at @NHC_Atlantic, and the Weather Channel can be followed at @weatherchannel.

I was living in NYC in 1985 during Hurricane Gloria, and that storm paled by comparison.  So, please, be safe out there, stay away from the ocean, stay inside, and ride this sucker out as safely as you can!

UPDATE: I just built this Turbo Sandy Twitter list, with a list of followees from a variety of media and government sources, including the Weather Channel, NASA, FEMA, and a variety of others.