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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Hurricane Irene Could Threaten 9/11 Memorial

In the event that a hurricane should ever hit New York City, the city is set up in "Zones", depending on how close they are to the water, and the topography of the city.  "Zone A" are areas that would be in danger in the event of a Category 1 hurricane.  "Zone B" is for Category 2, "Zone C" is for Category 3, and so on.

With Hurricane Irene expected to make landfall in New York City tomorrow morning, mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered mandatory evacuations for those living in "Zone A".  That comes to roughly 370,000 people that have been asked to leave their homes by 5PM today.  To make things worse, all public transportation (subways, buses) were stopped as of noon, in advance of the storm.  They will not be back online until Tuesday.


At the bottom left hand corner of Manhattan (Manhattan is the area that is entirely wrapped in "Zone A"), you'll see an area that looks like a notch is cut out of the island.  Between the spots on the map that say "Battery Park City" and "Bowling Green".  This is the location of Ground Zero.

Next month, on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the 9/11 Memorial is being dedicated at the site of the former World Trade Center location.  The memorial was designed to have water gently falling, from ground level, into the imprints of the towers.  Here are a couple of photos taken during construction showing how massive this project is.  Since completion, developers have tried to keep a lid on photography of the memorial until it's official unveiling on September 11th.



With only two weeks to assess and repair any damage made to the memorial, the city is going to be on a tight schedule.  As is, the site has been embroiled in a mass of controversy concerning designs and countless delays.  It has been a struggle for crews to meet their ten anniversary deadline for the memorial.

I will keep you posted.

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