Gloucestershire's US exiles keep calm ahead of storm
AMERICANS living in Gloucestershire remained calm yesterday as Hurricane Sandy threatened to swamp the east coast of the US.
Some county residents admitted they were worried as their families were in America and the huge storm was approaching the eastern seaboard.
But they were determined not to panic.
Ken Barnes, the managing director of Premiere Products in Bouncers Lane, Cheltenham, grew up in Long Island, New York. His daughter and his two brothers live in the city.
Dyson DC50i - Bagless upright vacuum cleaner - BALL Technology -...
View detailsThisi is Dyson's smallest upright vacuum cleaner with the performance of a full size upright machine. The DC50i has Dyson's most advanced cleaner head technology and 2 Tier RadialTM cyclones.
Terms: LIMITED STOCK OFFER. FREE delivery to most UK postcodes - Next working day dispatch.
Contact: 01664 491439
Valid until: Monday, May 27 2013
He said they would be fine and that Sandy would turn out to be more of an inconvenience than a threat to their safety.
He said: "I'm quite confident that they will be safe. My daughter is quite calm. She's stocked up with food, candles and playing cards and they're planning to have a hurricane party, I suppose. There's nothing you can do, it's nature."
He said the main concern for New Yorkers was that the hurricane might cause a swell in the tide and that might lead to river levels increasing so much that they would cause flooding in the city.
"It could be very messy but I sincerely doubt that it's going to be dangerous for New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Baltimore. There's less concern about damage and more about mess and inconvenience," he said.
Mr Barnes said the authorities had been right to evacuate certain areas but said many New Yorkers, including his family, would be battening down the hatches and staying put.
"They will weather the storm," he added.
Mary Cunningham lives in Cheltenham and is the store team leader for Whole Foods Market, an American firm due to open a shop in Tewkesbury Road next week. She is from the Boston area and her parents and two sisters live there.
She said: "It may leave my family with potential power outages and very high wind speeds but I think they will be safe.
"In New England, we deal with a lot of unpleasant weather.
"We do a very good job of looking after each other.
"Hopefully, all will be well and the storm will pass."
In New York City, thousands of people were ordered to leave their homes and evacuation shelters were set up.
Public transport was halted and the New York Stock Exchange closed.
Forecasters feared Sandy would become a super-storm as it was due to collide with cold weather fronts from the west and north.
Comments