Even discounting the broader metro, there are almost 9 million people living in NYC. It's unlikely that any meaningful fraction of them could possibly get out in the time between learning we were in a nuclear confrontation, and the first consequences of that confrontation for NYC.

> It's unlikely that any meaningful fraction of them could possibly get out in the time between learning we were in a nuclear confrontation, and the first consequences of that confrontation for NYC.

I imagine it's very likely the two would happen simultaneously.

The NYC is telling people to get inside and pray to their "neon god".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_xWCJAtz3U

If most people believe, then traffic might not be impossibly bad.

> If most people believe, then traffic might not be impossibly bad.

In that case, a meaningful fraction definitely wouldn't get out, because they wouldn't even be trying to.

I’m not sure how it could possibly be useful to anyone to hear that they shouldn’t be in the place where a nuclear explosion occurs.

As a child of the 80's - that's probably where you want to be. Right in the epicenter, if you can make it. At least it'll be over quick.

I'm fairly certain that's preferable to the scenarios survivors of a large scale nuclear exchange will face in the weeks, months, and years after.

New York is actually surprisingly uninteresting as a military target.

You'd glass it if you were trying to kill US logistical capacity of course, but if you were trying to neuter a second-strike, you wouldn't really bother.

Port Newark is a primary industrial target, and the large cluster of defense contractors in northern NJ are a primary counterforce target. Unfortunately the fallout plumes from the Jersey targets covers all 5 boroughs.