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Satellite image of Hurricane Irene -
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As I write this, I understand that Wall Street has been sandbagged (following the metaphoric sandbaggings of a couple of weeks back) in anticipation of flooding, and Mayor Bloomberg's mandatory evacuation of Zone A, the low lying areas of Manhattan and New York, has begun.
Shelters opened for those refugees within their own city about 30 minutes ago. They number about 270,000 people. Sirens wail just slightly more than normal on a Friday night in New York.
Subways and buses will be shut down at noon tomorrow. The air outside is heavy, a dramatist might say 'gravid' with possibility. My air-conditioner hums. I've become suddenly very aware and fond of electrical power.
And I've just discovered that I live in Zone B, which, should the predicted hurricane strike at Category Two force (it's unlikely, to be fair), will suffer flooding.
Besides occasionally being a moral quagmire, Spanish Harlem is geographically swampy. A neighbour sent an email this afternoon warning us the basement was likely to flood, and there would be no hot water, and no power.
Reading this on my computer, which is plugged into the wall, I started to calculate how long I'd have on battery.
At which juncture, you want to say, 'Come on, Irene?'
But despite the habitual affectation of journalistic cynicism, you should follow Mike Bloomberg's prudent example, and probably take seriously a storm that meteorologists have described variously as 'historic', 'powerful' and 'once in a generation'.
With that in mind I noodled across 106th Street to the local 99 cent store to buy a flashlight at around 1 pm. Water I have, and canned food (Al Qeada jitters from a while ago), but lighting might be a problem.
"Out," said the woman behind the counter, when I asked if she had torches. She resumed her telephone conversation in Bengali.
I bought some candles, a lighter, and soap. I needed soap. At first I'd selected pink candles, but this didn't seem to be taking Irene seriously, so I got the blue. Sign of impending hysteria: superstition.
The next store I tried was sold out of torches also. As a second choice, the guy behind the counter waved some lame battery-operated night-lights for scared children. I demurred.
"They've got flashlights across the road," I was told.
Of course they didn't. Nor did the place by that 99 cent store have them.
I went back and bought the night lights for scared children. I was pleased to have them.
Next stop: the local supermarket. The aisles were packed. I realised that the streets and the aisles of all the stores had all been full, and that everyone was talking about the hurricane.
Watching the elderly load up on canned foods gave me pause. It must be terrible to be sick and ailing during a time when even the healthy are fearful.
I bought three cans of Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli, a loaf of bread, pastrami, and a six pack of Presidente beer. Depositing everything at home, I tested the battery-operated night lamps I'd bought. Hopeless.
Guaranteed to make children (of all ages) more afraid than ever on account of the meager and ghostly light they give emit.
Then a brainwave. Everyone goes to 99 cent stores in Spanish Harlem. Why not pay full retail?
Which is how I found myself in a hardware store buying a torch. It was the last of its type available. The guy who sold it to me mentioned how the busses and subways would be closing at noon tomorrow. "Just watch the price of a taxi after that," he said.
The last stop was the drycleaners. If Irene hits, I'll need clean shirts because, well, I'll be working.
"Are you excited about Irene?" I asked the drycleaning guy.
He shook his head. He's Korean, and proud of it. "Americans," he said, "they have no history, so" He meant that a lack of history makes for hysteria. That may be so, but it's recent history that is behind much of this.
No one, not Mayor Bloomberg, nor any of the governors who've declared states of emergency well in advance of the storm's landfall, nor Mr Obama, who spoke today, wants another Katrina.
Let's see what Irene wants.
To read more Tim Wilson opinion click here .
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