Report: NYC Mayor Bloomberg Wouldn’t Let National Guard Into Brooklyn Over Their Possession Of Guns…

Mayor Bloomberg has snubbed Borough President Markowitz’s impassioned plea to bring the National Guard to Hurricane Sandy-scarred Brooklyn — arguing that approving the Beep’s request would be a waste of federal manpower and turn the borough into a police state.

“We don’t need it,” Mayor Bloomberg said on Wednesday during a press update on the city’s ongoing Hurricane Sandy cleanup. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”

Markowitz demanded the National Guard’s help just an hour before Bloomberg’s press conference, claiming that the NYPD and FDNY are “brave — but overwhelmed” by all the challenges Sandy brought when it visited the borough on Monday night: flooding, power outages, and looting.

“All of our resources have been stretched to the limit,” Markowitz said. “In the name of public safety we need to send more National Guard personnel into Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Red Hook, and any other locations.”

Markowitz hopes that the sight of an armed soldier would deter criminal activity in the still-unaccessible evacuation zones — such as the rash of break-ins that took place in Coney Island hours after Sandy kissed the borough goodbye — but the Mayor said the NYPD was more than capable of handling the job.

“There are plenty of locations upstate and in surrounding states where they don’t have a police department the size of New York and they can use help [from the National Guard],” said Bloomberg.

Markowitz said he was surprised by the Mayor’s response, but was sticking to his guns.

“We stand by our statement 100 percent,” said Markowitz spokesman John Hill. “We hope the governor will listen to our request.”

Via: The Brooklyn Paper

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Breaking: Sandy Prompts NYC, Other Coastal Evacuations

Hurricane Sandy remains on track to become a historical storm for the mid-Atlantic and southern New England with New Jersey and New York City bracing for very dangerous conditions and catastrophic damage.

The impact from Sandy will reach hundreds of miles from the center of landfall, including areas well inland and well ahead of the storm's landfall Monday night.

An overview of the catastrophic impacts that await the mid-Atlantic and southern New England can be found in this news story, while below are more detailed impact stories for specific cities and communities.

Updates on Sandy:

2:00 p.m. EDT: Wind gusts were reaching 52 mph in Norfolk, Va. and 58 mph on the North Carolina Outer Banks.

12:00 noon EDT: New York Governor Cuomo announced that the orderly suspension of all subway, bus and commuter railroad service will begin at 7 p.m. EDT, Sunday.

12:00 noon EDT: New York Mayor Bloomberg announced city schools are closed on Monday and ordered evacuations of some low-lying areas in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens.

11:00 a.m. EDT: A storm surge of up to 5.5 feet was flooding neighborhoods on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Multiple roads were under water.

10:30 a..m. EDT: Moderate coastal flooding was occurring near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the Norfolk, Virginia area. Minor coastal flooding was already occurring along portions of the New Jersey coast at time of high tide.

9:30 a.m. EDT: Seas of 30 feet continue off the coast of the Carolinas. Seas were between 10 and 15 feet off the coast of New Jersey and Long Island and building.

9:24 a.m. EDT: Winds were gusting to 48 mph in Virginia Beach, Va., to 40 mph in Ocean City, Md., and to 36 mph in Atlantic City, N.J. with Sandy still hundreds of miles away.

9:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy is racking up rainfall. So far, Hatteras, N.C. has received 5.19 inches with 1.76 inches in Newport News, Va. A zone of heavy rain was developing farther north from the Maryland eastern shore to eastern Pennsylvania.

6:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy is a truly massive storm on satellite. One of, if not the largest tropical cyclone to ever develop in the Atlantic basin.