NEW YORK CITY and HURRICANE FLORENCE

Day 134 of the Lower Puna Eruption.

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New York City is a composite of five county-level boroughs:  Manhattan (1), Brooklyn (2), Queens (3), The Bronx (4) and Staten Island (5).  We toured them all yesterday, except for Staten Island.  The Bronx (1.47 million) has about the same population as Hawaii, with the largest being Brooklyn at 2.65 million.

We started with Harlem, which is within Manhattan,  for a  gospel concert by the Addicts Rehabilitation Center.

Clearly, rock and roll derived from gospel, leading to rap and what is today America's music.

The Queensboro Bridge (above), also known as the 59th Street Bridge, was made famous by Simon and Garfunkle with their Feelin' Groovy, otherwise known as the 59th Street Bridge Song.  While there are 13 bridges and tunnels connecting Manhattan with the other boroughs, the city itself is said to have more than 2000 of them.

To the Bronx where we made a quick stop at Yankee Stadium.  I'll be back Sunday for the game with the Toronto Blue Jays.  That's John DeFreitas, who is the lead Panda Tour representative.  There are around 270 from Hawaii, and we're all staying at the Sheraton Times Square.  I would say that the racial breakdown is close to that at 15 Craigside, many around my age, and I never knew any of them before.

Lunch was at La Marina on the Hudson:

The cuisine featured BBQd salmon and chicken.  Better than nothing.

A few more photos from Queens and Brooklyn:

That's One World Trade Center with the spire.  It is now only the sixth highest in the world, with Dubai's Burj Khalifa (left) almost a 1000 feet taller.

Tomorrow, a tour to West Point, which is 60 miles away.  The football game itself will occur on Saturday.

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Tropical Storm Olivia made landfall over Maui and Lanai, apparently a first of its kind in recorded history.  Now south of Oahu, Olivia is soon to be downgraded into a tropical depression:

Unfortunately, Hurricane Florence will strike the Carolinas as a Category 2, probably between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach.  

The movement of Florence has slowed down, but will make landfall later today or very early on Friday.  This is terrible, as rainfall totals will rise, with up to 40 inches now projected.  The dissipated eye will still be somewhere between Atlanta and Charlotte on Sunday.  

The spaghetti models mostly show a quick left turn on landfall.  

One projection has Florence over New York City.  However, there is very little doubt now that South Carolina into Georgia are the danger zones.

Typhoon Mangkhut (Ompong) is bigger and stronger than Florence, now at 125 MPH, and heading for the Philippines:

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