Henri has arrived. With its gusts of wind at over 100 kilometers per hour, its torrential rains and the wall of water that rises from the ocean scourges the northeastern coast of the United States, from Boston to New York to Philadelphia. It is the most populous region in the country. While further south, bad weather conditions have already caused massive floods in Tennessee, where at least 21 deaths are counted, including some children, and about 45 are missing. From a Category 1 hurricane, Henri was demoted to a tropical storm before impact against the small state of Rhode Island. But its progress, a monster with a diameter of over 200 kilometers, is frightening. So in the White House, from where he constantly followed the situation, President Joe Biden gave the green light to the state of emergency in the states concerned, also comparing on TV to update public opinion. In addition to New York, New Jersey and Rohde Island, the emergency affects the entire region of New England where Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine are located. Mobilized not only the men of the Fema, the US civil protection, but also those of the National Guard. Over 35 million Americans in these hours are at risk of flooding and blackout risk, with water that in several areas has already reached 15 centimeters in height, overflowing rivers and streams and ocean waves over six meters high. Also along the coast of Long Island, at the gateway to the Big Apple, where there is also one of the most exclusive seaside resorts of New Yorkers still on vacation, the Hamptons.
In New York, where many of the wounds from 2012’s devastating Hurricane Sandy are still open, many of the subway stations have remained flooded and dozens of cars trapped by water in the underpasses. On Saturday night the police suddenly had to evacuate about 60,000 people attending the maxi concert from Central Park to celebrate (not without some controversy) the return of the Big Apple to normal life after more than a year of pandemic. It was Mayor Bill de Blasio who wanted the show to go on at all costs: “The show will go on,” he said before the stars arrived on stage. And never mind if a few hours earlier his bitter political rival Andrew Cuomo (governor of the state of New York for a few hours) had launched a dramatic appeal on TV to stay at home and not to take the arrival of Henri lightly. Even before the storm hit the ground, the inconveniences were already enormous, with over a thousand flights canceled and the international stopovers of Newark (the second in New York after JFK) and Boston Logan International Airport almost paralyzed. All local and high-speed rail lines in the corridor between the Big Apple and Boston also closed. And problems also for road traffic, with many communication routes closed due to flooding. To find such a situation in the Long Island area and in the New England region, we must go back to 30 years ago, when Hurricane Bob struck the coasts of Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1991 and Hurricane Gloria lashed Long Island in 1985. Meanwhile, much further south, hurricane Grace is also scary. The death toll in the Mexican state of Veracruz has increased to at least nine, while the number of missing remains at three. Meanwhile, the work of the rescue teams continues, while the state of emergency remains, with the population invited to evacuate from many areas and find shelter in the highlands.