Hurricane Ekaterina? Or, Katrina The Great Freaks Out Brighton Beach

The Russian-language press is stirring up fears of a catastrophic hurricane hitting Brighton Beach:

Russian immigrants in Brighton Beach are living in fear of a hurricane threat to which the rest of New York City seems largely oblivious. Speculation that a severe storm could soon descend on Brooklyn has been rife among immigrant senior citizens, many of whom are reportedly stocking up on water and medicine in preparation for an emergency that is much less likely to happen than some of the local Russian press and broadcast outlets have reported.

. . .

“I know one businessman who closed his business,” the editor in chief of a local paper, Russkii Bazaar, Natalia Shapiro, said. “He went back to live in Russia until the hurricane season is over.”

Employees at Pharmacy Express on Brighton Beach Avenue said that in May, senior citizens started coming in saying they were worried about a hurricane. “People read the Russian-language newspapers, and they believe every word,” a pharmacist, Tatiana Shmaian, said. Ms. Shmaian said her daughter lives in Moscow and called her to make sure she was okay after hearing about a potential hurricane on Russian television.

“They’re hearing there’s going to be a hurricane in 24 hours,” Pat Singer of the Brighton Neighborhood Association said. Ms. Singer said senior citizens have come into her office and asked what they should do if the city declares a weather-related evacuation. “They’re old, they can’t run, and they’re scared,” she said. “Katrina scared a lot of people.”

Ms. Singer, who cannot read Russian, blamed the local Russian newspapers for the speculation, saying editors are trying to scare their readers in order to boost sales. “It’s a ghetto, a Russian ghetto neighborhood. They read their own newsletters, watch their own television stations,” she said.

The scare appears to have started in March, when several Russian-language newspapers in America published a re port that said: “In the coming summer, a powerful hurricane could descend on New York with a force no less forgiving than Katrina, which emptied New Orleans last year.” That warning also was picked up by news sources in Russia. Then, at the end of last month, the New York Russian paper V Novom Svete ran a cover story citing a French scientist who said a tsunami would rip through Manhattan on May 25.

Then again, the prospect of a hurricane hitting New York does seem pretty frightening . . .

Hanging, Harrowing, And The Hizzoner High-Five

The Roosevelt Island Tram stalled between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island, stranding passengers for like days:

A four-minute trip on the Roosevelt Island Tramway turned into a harrowing overnight ordeal as a series of power failures left about 70 people suspended hundreds of feet in the air, forcing a daring rescue over the East River that ended early this morning.

By 4:30 a.m. — nearly 12 hours after the trams first stalled — all the passengers were off the two trams, which had been moving in opposite directions, one towards Manhattan’s East Side and the other towards Roosevelt Island.

. . .

Cheers accompanied each successful rescue effort. Children from the first group, which had eight children and five adults, exchanged high-fives with Mayor Bloomberg after touching ground at the Roosevelt Island terminal about 11:30 p.m. Passengers were greeted with juice, cookies and, for several Hasidic Jews in the first group, matzo.

. . .

The ordeal was especially difficult for people who did not like heights. Mary Hirschhorn said her husband, Alan Hirschhorn, one of the stranded passengers, was among them. “He’s very nervous,” she said. “He’s upset. I’m never going to take it again.”

[Twelve-year-old] Dax [Maier], the young tennis player, agreed that he and the babysitter would be taking the subway from now on.

Can’t wait for that Calatrava tram!

You’re Fired (Upon)!

The Post notes which of the wealthiest among us are armed:

Ronald Lauder has joined trigger-happy tycoons Donald Trump and Seagrams scion Edgar Bronfman Sr. as the richest men in the city packing heat, according to the NYPD’s gun-permit list.

Lauder, the cosmetics heir, and multimillionaire Marvel Comics CEO Isaac Perlmutter are the newest gun-club members licensed to carry a weapon — topping a list that already included “Mean Streets” actors Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro, “Scarface” producer Martin Bregman and shock jocks Don Imus and Howard Stern.

These boldfaced names are among more than 38,000 licensed gun owners in the city; the number has steadily declined in recent years as fewer people apply for permits — and fewer are approved.

“The review is thorough and it may include a site visit,” said Police Inspector Michael Coan. “Permits are reviewed upon renewal to ensure proper cause exists to continue the permit.”

Other gun-toting notables — who have a license to carry as opposed to a permit to keep their weapon only at a home or business — include anti-gun activist Fernando Mateo and Giuliani Partners execs Richard Sheirer and Anthony Carbonetti — an in-law of the notorious booze-peddling Dorrian clan.

Republican Senate majority leader Joe Bruno and music czar Tommy Mottola remain licensed carriers, according to NYPD records through March 17. [Emph. added for the delicious irony]

Who Let The Dogs Out?

Meanwhile, Newsday/AM New York reports that Hal the urban coyote may have friends waiting to pounce on the city’s dog population — not a matter of “if” but rather “when”:

The coyote who was captured in Central Park Wednesday may have kin who are living comfortably in the Bronx or even in Manhattan.

His species has been settling in record numbers in and around Gotham, and are especially adept at surviving in cities.

“These animals are the ultimate urban survivors,” said Dr. Michael Klemens, senior conservationist at the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“They are adaptable, able to vary their menu, and to find shelter in shadow of the most crowded city.”

The scientist said he was certain there is a breeding population of coyotes in the Bronx, and did not rule out the possibility that dens stuffed with coyote puppies are scattered around Manhattan. They could be getting by in wooded parks or even construction sites.

City officials speculated Wednesday that the captured coyote had made its way down from Westchester County. The animals were unknown in the state less than 50 years ago, but have since moved in en masse to fill an ecological niche left by the decimated wolf population, which was hunted close to extinction.

The coyotes here are much larger than their howling cousins of the Arizona desert. They have probably been interbreeding with wolves or even domesticated dogs, said Klemens, making the eastern breed bigger and stronger.

First In Cancer-Causing Emissions And First In The American League

New York’s air is even worse than that of smoggy California:

New Yorkers and Californians breathe the dirtiest air in the nation and face higher cancer risks than the rest of the nation, according to the latest data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

New Yorkers’ risk of developing cancer from air toxins is estimated to be 68 residents per million. In California, the risk is 66 residents per million.

The national average is 41.5 per million, according to the report, which was released in February and based on emissions of 177 chemicals in 1999, the most recent data available.

Oregon, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey had the third, fourth and fifth worst air in the nation, respectively, the EPA said. Rural residents of Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana breathed the cleanest air.

The EPA assessment evaluated toxins including heavy metals, such as lead; volatile chemicals, such as benzene; combustion byproducts, such as acrolein; and solvents, including perchloroethylene and methylene chloride.