Are You Afraid Yet?

As part of my newly found mission to scare everyone into doing what the government tells them, I thought I'd pass along a couple of photos and some links I've seen of flooding after Tropical Storm Irene.

Here's one from New York City, along the East River on August 28:

Image credit: David Shankbone/Flickr

The caption with the photo reads:

The swollen East River alongside Manhattan's East River Park after Hurricane Irene. Debris along the esplanade was evidence of the river slightly breaching. Taken early morning.

See David Shankborn's Hurricane Irene Flick set for more pictures from around Manhattan.

The East River is a big river. It's right next to an even bigger river, the Hudson. Ships sail up and down the river, and it was filled up with about a day's rain.

Here's one from along Route 35 in Colonia, NJ on the same day:

Image credit: CBGB_hoser

I'd like to thank these two photographers for making these photos available via the Commons License.

Paul Krugman posted an article with a picture of flooding at the Princeton train station. It's part of an interactive map of TS Irene photos sent in by New York Times readers. (You'll need to enable Javascript, of course.)

Which should make the point that it didn't matter that there was little wind - the water was the problem, as it was in New Orleans a few years ago.