DailyTech - Quick Note: Google Tries to Help People Prepare for Hurricane Sandy

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Internet Quick Note: Google Tries to Help People Prepare for Hurricane Sandy
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - October 29, 2012 9:05 AM

3 comment(s) - last by Trisped.. on Oct 29 at 4:34 PM

Google offers detailed information on Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is looking to make the start of the workweek a miserable affair for residents of the East Coast. There's plenty of information online geared to help people in the hurricane's path get ready. One of the coolest resources for people curious about the storm or people who are preparing to withstand the storm's onslaught comes from Google.

Google has an interesting tool that offers weather service alerts and notifications of areas that are being evacuated due to the risk of flooding during the hurricane. The page also shows the forecasted path of Hurricane Sandy over the next three days. The page is being constantly updated as forecast information changes and has a legend to show how much rain is falling in particular areas that will be affected by the storm.

The storm is expected to be severe and Google canceled its own New York City Android event that was set for today due to fears from the storm.

Another interesting bit of information is that Chase bank is said to be waiving overdraft fees until the storm is over. The idea is to allow people who lack sufficient funds in their accounts to buy needed supplies or cover evacuation expenses without the threat of stiff penalties. Obviously, the customers will eventually have to pay the money back.

On a related note, The New York Times has set up a high-resolution camera that is snapping pictures at one-minute intervals of the incoming storm:

^{Matt Ericson, Jon Huang/The New York Times}

Sources: TechCrunch, Google, The New York Times

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RE: The rain in New York falls mainly on the pane.

By Trisped on 10/29/2012 4:34:45 PM , Rating: 2

I think the camera is a really good idea. Information is so easy to come by now, you can figure out where the storm is on any site. The camera will add an insiders perspective on the storm for those of us who are not there.

It would be similar to the blog during hurricane Katrina of the group who was suppose to keep the web servers up and running during the storm.

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