Meteorologist Pleads With Residents Of Low-Lying Areas
In a briefing presented this evening
by the National Weather Service's Philadelphia/Mount Holly station,
meteorologist Gary Szatkowski pleaded with residents of low-lying areas
of New Jersey and Delaware -- likely to be close to the eye of Hurricane
Sandy when it makes landfall sometime tomorrow -- to take the storm
seriously. Szatkowski even provided his office number and email, should
residents have questions.
"If you think the storm is over-hyped and exaggerated, please err on the side of caution," he wrote, imploring residents in his area to think about their loved ones. "You can call me up on Friday … and yell at me all you want."
Options for the storm to miss the area were rapidly dwindling, Szatkowski added. "Confidence on the storm having a major impact on our region continues to increase. The focus of efforts should be on when Sandy hits our region, not if Sandy hits our region."
From a list of bullet points in the very personal briefing:
"If you think the storm is over-hyped and exaggerated, please err on the side of caution," he wrote, imploring residents in his area to think about their loved ones. "You can call me up on Friday … and yell at me all you want."
Options for the storm to miss the area were rapidly dwindling, Szatkowski added. "Confidence on the storm having a major impact on our region continues to increase. The focus of efforts should be on when Sandy hits our region, not if Sandy hits our region."
From a list of bullet points in the very personal briefing:
• If you are being asked to evacuate a coastal location by state and local officials, please do so.Readers who want to reach Szatkowski can do so at Gary.Szatkowski@noaa.gov, or by phoning his office at 609-261-6602 x222. -Tom Zeller, HuffPost
• If you are reluctant to evacuate, and you know someone who rode out the ‘62 storm on the barrier islands, ask them if they would do it again.
• If you are still reluctant, think about your loved ones, think about the emergency responders who will be unable to reach you when you make the panicked phone call to be rescued, think about the rescue/recovery teams who will rescue you if you are injured or recover your remains if you do not survive.
• Sandy is an extremely dangerous storm. There will be major property damage, injuries are probably unavoidable, but the goal is zero fatalities.
• If you think the storm is over-hyped and exaggerated, please err on the side of caution. You can call me up on Friday (contact information is at the end of this briefing) and yell at me all you want.
• I will listen to your concerns and comments, but I will tell you in advance, I will be very happy that you are alive & well, no matter how much you yell at me.
• Thanks for listening.
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