The storm of the century is expected to affect more than 60 million East Coast residents. So far, there are 69 reported deaths as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Emergency officials along the East Coast are preparing for the storm’s impact.
The eye of the storm is expected to make impact sometime between 5:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. tonight.
Here’s a look state-by-state Hurricane Sandy preparations:
Federal:
The New York Stock Exchange has been shut down.
All Federal buildings in Washington D.C. are closed.
Amtrak cancelled all transportation to the East Coast.
Connecticut:
At 11:00 A.M., trucks will be prohibited from operating on limited access highways. At 1:00 P.M., state highways will be closed to all non-emergency related vehicles.
Delaware:
Mandatory evacuation of all costal and low-lying areas.
A Level 2 Driving Restriction (the “Restriction”) is hereby ordered beginning as of 5:00 a.m. Monday, October 29, 2012. The Restriction shall remain in effect until further notice. As of the time set forth above, no motor vehicles should be operated on any road in the State of Delaware unless operated by essential personnel, which shall mean those employees and/or personnel who are necessary to maintain the core functions of a government body or entity, and to maintain the health and safety of the people in Delaware by providing services provided by public utilities as defined in § 102(2) of Title 26, healthcare services, and food and fuel deliveries, as well as members of the media. Persons with a waiver granted by the Delaware Emergency Management Agency are exempt from this Restriction.
Massachusetts:
All State employees told to stay home (with the exception of emergency service personnel).
The MBTA and Commuter Rail will be closed as of 2pm on Monday 10/29/12 until further notice. Visit www.mbta.com for more information.
Maryland:
- Smith Island
- Crisfield
- Somerset County: low-lying areas
- Ocean City: island wide
- Wicomico: all low lying areas around Nanticoke
- Talbot: low lying areas
- St. Mary’s: low-lying areas
- City of Annapolis: low-lying
- Queen Anne’s: low-lying
- Ocean City – 17th Street South and known flood prone areas
- Worcester – All waterfront properties in the county. This includes all properties in the West Ocean City area, the communities of Cape Isle of Wight, Mystic Harbour, Snug Harbor, The Landings and Assateague Point. Also included in this are South Point, anything east of the parkway in Ocean Pines and all other waterfront properties throughout Worcester County.
roads closed for 36 hours.
Maine:
Towns along the coast have been issued flood warnings.
North Carolina:
Hurricane Sandy’s impacts were being felt throughout eastern North Carolina Sunday afternoon. The hurricane has forced state and local officials to:
• Close N.C. 12 in Dare County due to sand and water overwash. Soundside flooding north of Ocracoke left between 18 inches and 24 inches of standing water on N.C. 12 north of Ocracoke. The N.C. Department of Transportation will be deploying crews to work on sand removal and further assess the roadway.
• Suspended most N.C. Department of Transportation’s ferry services until conditions improved. NCDOT road information is available by calling 511 or online at www.ncdot.gov/travel.
Fortunately, there have been only scattered reports in eastern North Carolina of power outages. No injuries due to the storm have been reported.
Approximately, 75 North Carolina National Guard soldiers were prepositioned to respond to the storm if needed. State Highway Patrol troopers were placed on standby to close the Oregon Inlet Bridge, and officials with the NCDOT were to be deployed to work on sand removal and more assessments of N.C. 12 as well as other roadways. State emergency management officials will also be working with local officials to respond to needs for debris removal from roadways after the storm has passed.
New Hampshire:
Governor John Lynch this morning declared a state of emergency for New Hampshire and urged all motorists to stay off the roads this afternoon.
The Governor is also urging employers to consider releasing workers early this afternoon, so as to avoid the need for travel after 3:00. The Governor has directed that non-essential state workers, as determined by state department heads, be released from work by 3:00 this afternoon.
According to the National Weather Service, the main impact of the storm will reach New Hampshire around mid-afternoon on Monday, and continue through the early morning hours of Tuesday. The Weather Service predicts wind gusts of up to 70 MPH, rainfall ranging from 1-4 inches, and coastal flooding as a result of the storm surge.
Governor Lynch directed the National Guard to place 100 soldiers on state active duty, with an additional 100 on standby, to assist with the storm response.
New Jersey:
1. As of this time the mainline and all ramps of the Garden State Parkway from mile post 0-63 are closed and will remain closed until further notice.
2. Effective 2:00 p.m. the Holland Tunnel will be closed to all vehicular traffic due to hurricane Sandy.
3. NJ Electric outages as of 12:00 p.m.
POWER OUTAGES: Statewide 39,484
Mass transportation has been shut down.
New York City:
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel will close at 2:00 p.m. today.
The Tappan Zee bridge will shut down at 4 p.m.
NYC Preparing for Hurricane Sandy – Mandatory Evacuation Now in Effect
A mandatory evacuation order is in effect for residents in Zone A areas, the Rockaways, Hamilton Beach, and City Island.
- If you live in Zone A, leave immediately. Consider staying with friends or family outside the affected area. If you cannot stay with family or friends, shelters are open in public schools around the city. Get list of shelters
- All evacuation centers have at least one entrance usable for wheelchairs. If you require further information, you can call 311 or visit the MOPD website, which will also provide information about accessible transportation.
- View PDF of evacuation zone map and evacuation center/shelter locations (small)
- View detailed PDF of evacuation zone map and evacuation center/shelter locations (large – 6 MB)
Transit/Transportation
- Alternate Side Parking regulations (street cleaning) are suspended citywide on Monday, 10/29, to facilitate storm preparation. Payment at parking meters is also suspended throughout the city on Monday, 10/29.
- The MTA has shut down all subway, bus, and commuter railroad service. For more information, visit the MTA website.
- The Staten Island Ferry service is suspended until further notice.
- East River Ferry service is suspended through 10/29.Learn more.
- NJ Transit has implemented a gradual system-wide shutdown of all bus, rail, light rail, and Access Link service. Learn more.
- All PATH train service and stations have shut down.Learn more.
- Amtrak has canceled Northeast Corridor service north of NYC starting at 7 pm 10/28, and nearly all service on the eastern seaboard on Monday, 10/29, including Acela Express Northeast Regional, Keystone and Shuttle trains.Learn more.
- The Holland and Hugh Carey (formerly Brooklyn-Battery) Tunnels will close at 2 PM. Learn more.
Schools/Colleges
- All NYC public schools will be closed to students Monday, 10/29, and Tuesday, 10/30. For more information, visit the Department of Education website.
- All City University of New York (CUNY) Colleges are officially closed Monday, 10/29, and all classes are cancelled. For more info, visit CUNY.edu.
Miscellaneous
- In preparation for Hurricane Sandy, City parks, playgrounds, and beaches are closed. Surfing is prohibited at all beaches throughout the course of the storm. Learn more via the Parks website.
Pennsylvania:
PennDOT is urging motorists to avoid unnecessary travel but those who must head out will see speeds reduced to 45 mph on the following highways:
• Interstate 81 from the New York state to Maryland state border; • Interstates 78, 83, 84, 380, 176 and 76; • Interstate 283 and Route 283; • Interstate 80 east of Interstate 81;
• Pennsylvania Turnpike from New Jersey to Carlisle and the Northeast Extension;
• Route 581; and • U.S. Routes 15, 30, 22/322 and 33.
Also, in conjunction with similar restrictions imposed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, these types of vehicles will be prohibited from traveling on the speed-restricted roadways:
• Class 9 vehicles (Overweight and over-dimensional trucks); • Empty straight trucks; • Large Combination Vehicles (tandem trailers and doubles); • Tractors hauling empty trailers;
• Trailers pulled by passenger vehicles; • Motorcycles; and • Recreational Vehicles, or RVs.
The agencies may expand highway restrictions if storm conditions warrant.
Earlier today, PennDOT and the PTC issued these speed and vehicle restrictions on the following highways:
• Interstate 76 in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties; • Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, Bucks and Delaware counties; • Interstate 476 in Delaware and Montgomery counties; • Interstate 676 in Philadelphia;• Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties; • U.S. Route 1 Extension in Philadelphia; • U.S. Route 1 in Bucks, Philadelphia, Delaware and Chester counties; • U.S. Route 30 Bypass in Chester County;
• Route 63 (Woodhaven Expressway) in Philadelphia; • U.S. Route 202 in Chester County; • Route 309 in Bucks and Montgomery counties; • U.S. Route 422 in Montgomery County; and
• Route 611 Bypass in Bucks County. Vehicles in these classifications should pull over to a safe area and wait for the
restriction to be lifted.
Virginia:
Governor Bob McDonnell issued a limited mandatory evacuation order for low-lying areas along the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay.
Vermont:
The National Weather Service reports that wherever the storm makes landfall, the main threat from the storm will likely be high winds beginning during the day Monday. NWS says 60-80 mile per hour wind gusts are expected along the Green Mountains and in the Northeast Kingdom.
Watch live Hurricane Sandy footage at the Wether Channel.
Pilot Flying J Infomation:
The following is a list of the locations that we are preparing for hurricane/tropical storm conditions.
These locations are participating in daily operational conference calls to keep our focus on remaining
open for your drivers and the communities during the storms.
Pilot #255 Milford, CT
Pilot #222 Sturbridge, MA
Pilot #150 Hagerstown, MD
Pilot #179 Hagerstown, MD
Pilot #290 Perryville, MD
Pilot #784 North East, MD
Pilot #190 Hampton, NJ
Pilot #210 Mahwah, NJ
Pilot #253 Carney’s Point, NJ
Pilot #688 Carney’s Point, NJ
Pilot #280 Bloomsbury, NJ
Pilot #146 Castleton, NY
Pilot #322 Kanona, NY
Pilot #380 Syracuse, NY
Pilot #494 Rotterdam, NY
Our transportation department is keeping a close eye on the inventory levels at these locations and as
conditions allow, will continue filling the tanks. Most terminals in the region have closed or are
preparing to close ahead of the storm. Below is a current list of confirmed closed locations:
Flying J #693 Pembroke, NJ
Flying J #709 Mill Hall, PA
Flying J #707 Brookville, PA
Flying J #710 New Milford, PA
Pilot #336 DuBois, PA
Pilot #370 Scranton, PA
Pilot #001 Mill Hall, PA
Pilot #298 Drums, PA
Pilot #396 Greenville, VA
Flying J #752 Winchester, VA
Flying J #749 Ruther Glen, VA
Pilot #384 Richmond, VA
Pilot #159 Tallysville, VA
Pilot #491 Harrisonburg, VA
Loves:
Love’s in Hamburg, PA (I-78 & Exit 23) is currently without power and unable to make transactions.
Love’s in Bordentown, NJ (I-295 & Exit 57) has boards on windows but is open for business.
TravelCenters of America:
Hurricane Update:
Please be advised that due to Hurricane Sandy, we are suspending Reserve-It Reserved Parking at the following locations. We will assess the storm regularly to determine when these Reserve-It locations will be put back into operation.
-TA New Haven, CT #171
-TA Greenland, NH #211
-TA Paulsboro, NJ #218
-TA Bloomsbury, NJ #048
-TA Binghamton, NY #207
-TA Greencastle, PA #213
-TA Roanoke, VA #021
-TA Hurricane WV #149
Petro:
Please be advised that due to Hurricane Sandy, we are suspending Reserve-It Reserved Parking at the following locations. We will assess the storm regularly to determine when these Reserve-It locations will be put back into operation.
-Petro Carlisle, PA #336