Didn't evacuate as told ? Quit crying for help.

every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

While I agree in principle that people should evacuate when told, I also know there can be many reasons why some people won’t do so, foolish as that may seem to others. And it isn’t just a matter or some won’t leave, some cannot, or feel they cannot.

In a disaster of this scale, there will be casualties. It is pretty much unavoidable. Whether it is unacceptable to ask emergency teams to help them is probably not for us to say. I think is is standard protocol not to place such teams in immediate danger, but I am sure many would volunteer to do so themselves.

What matters most now is getting on with the cleanup, helping those affected to put their lives back in order and doing what we can to help, and to make sure if possible that in the future we will do a better job.

Sure, mistakes were, are and will be made. Hopefully we can learn something from that.

Sandy was a much larger storm than Katrina, but there has been a tiny number of casualties in comparison. One is too many, but less than 75 so far is nothing short of a miracle in the circumstances.

Please, let us not be angry at others, but thankful for what we have and those who were spared.

With the looting the occurred after Katrina, I could empathize with those that were reluctant to abandon their homes.

The personal responsibility issue extends to those that built their homes in storm prone areas without adequate insurance. It's even worse for the expensive homes. Their insurance is the federal government.

fucked
They know that area is prown to weather problems. If they choose to live there it is ON Their OWN dime! Why should we pay to clean up for their problems? We pay higher insurance on our homes to clean up their mess?
They were told to leave and they stayed.
I once lived where tornadoes were comon, then moved solved my own problem!
J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J) J)

People bitch when under stress and their world is turned upside down. It ain't pretty when humans come "unglued". I can cut them some slack. I just looked in the mirror...and didn't see perfect.

People even bitch about other people bitchin'. Go figure. It's human nature.

Staten Island, by the way....it's an entirely different universe there. The normal rules of logic don't apply. No offense intended to SI'ers.

Yes, that would work. NY is not such a safe place to live, we think you should all go live somewhere else…

Here is the reason, or so the article says

Thanks for the comments and varying viewpoints.

There has been support, either pledged or actual, from other countries - as was there after Katrina.

Longtime allies, such as the U.K., Germany, and Australia have offered their help, with Australia's assistance package to be in the $10Mil USD range, IIRC.

Some pledges will be turned down, as was the generous Bangladeshi-offered assistance of $1Mil USD, after Katrina. In addition, the offer of 'assistance' from groups such as the Taliban's is not welcome here.

I was very impressed in the insistence of the New York officials that pets would be welcomed to evac shelters. This lack of a similar response was a noted factor in past storm evacuations.

survival of the fittest, (and smartest). Times like these will only make for a brighter future.

one thing that bothers me is how New Jersey wont let non-union companies in to help with cleanup and restoration of power. It wont be reported on mainstream joke of a media we have here though. Utility crews drving in from all over told to go home or sign union paperwork. What a corrupt joke the state/federal govt is.

I’m sure this can be measured in different ways. Having traveled multiple times to do volunteer cleanup after Katrina I’d have to say the devastation even 60+ miles inland from the Gulf coast was FAR worse than any of the the pictures I’ve seen from NY including State and Coney Island and Manhattan. Ike also was MUCH worse on the island where my sister once lived - it was like a tidal wave just wiped everything off the island including many home foundations that could no longer be found.

Weeks after the event we found elderly living in homes with trees still on top of the houses with roof and wall damage open to the outside (including mosquitos and other insects), exposed live electric lines or no power, and in a few cases no clear path into or out of the house.

That far inland, SO MANY huge trees 2 to 4 feet across were blown over with a root ball 2-4 feet deep and 10-14 foot across were plucked from the earth with a similarly sized crater left behind. A few homes had 10 or more trees on the property like this, and nearly every property had at least 2 or 3.

If there is any difference I’ve seen so far, the media has made a bigger story out of Sandy and did not show nearly enough of what I saw down at the Gulf. I don’t know whether it is politics or just media types who care more about their own area . . or perhaps both.

Where is it written that the government should take care of these people that are in these situations ?

Get your own insurance, watch one of the hundreds of weather channels, fill up your car before it hits, drive out of town, or hunker down and take “YOUR” chances.

Its your choice where to live and what to do not the government’s. If the government told all to evacuate everyone wouldn’t leave.

We need less government control and that comes with less dependence on government.

This is like blaming all ones problem on their parents because they weren’t cuddled enough as a baby.

Let's please not turn this into a political discussion, but I echo your sentiments.

A relatively small amount of personal responsibility goes a long ways during difficult times.

Also, looters should be shot on sight.

YES………on the looting

GottaZoom, I mentioned larger in reference to the area affected, which seemed to be the entire coastline.

Other storms may well have been more intense with concentrated damage for sure. If it was this large and that intense, you would not have any coastal towns now.

Thank God it was not.

It’s always easy to look back with hindsight and say, oh maybe we should have evacuated. At the time though, people can’t foresee the real danger, especially if they have never experienced such a storm firsthand.

I had friends that stayed in Darwin during cyclone Tracey. They swore they would never do it again. Some people think there house is strong enough, they are built to a storm rating here. Strangely, some of the older timber houses survived where the newer storm rated brick ones did not. Thats how storms like this are. Unpredictable.

We just cannot know how much power and energy weather cells can deliver. Warnings are based on best guesses. Many storms peter out before they hit. When you live in a coastal area, you get blase about them, until the big one arrives.

Sandy was downgraded in severity from original predictions, probably like many previous ones. You really can’t know until after the event.

In an ideal scenario, we would have accurate predictions with enough lead time to move everyone out of the path of danger. In reality, that is rarely feasible.

On another note, did anyone notice the recent government insanity that saw Italian scientists jailed for murder for not accurately predicting the severity of the latest earthquake? That is sheer madness.

There has been and will be tragedy. There has been and will be heroism. There has been and will be Darwin Awards. And there has been and will be incompetence, corruption, vandalism, greed, fraud, generosity, kindness, you name it. Some are sheep some are Shepards and some are wolves. Under stress you find out who is who. I’m saddened to hear about loss even when it’s stupidly preventable. I’ve been hearing about the likelihood of a storm like this one for a few years now so it did not come as a surprise to the meteorological community or anyone who watches Discovery, but no elected official wants to invoke fear unless there is something to be gained. What dusgusts me most is the inevitable finger pointing that will follow this EVENT. Occasionally, God, Mother Nature, Gaia, shows us who wears the pants on this planet. No point really, just some random thoughts. Don’t worry, be happy. Going to watch the concert now :~

Well reasoned and thoughtful thoughts. Personal responsibility and preparedness are too often in short supply. That said, when people are hurting they may not interview well. I am glad they are alive and in that they should rejoice. If cannot, they need to look at the Japan Tsunami devastation.

One thing is true in NY as it was in New Orleans and along every beach or riverside, you can never own that land. If you build on the shore or on a river flood plane, at some point your home will be taken by the water. If you insist and can afford the risk, without government help or subsidized insurance, be my guest, but don’t come crying when your house disappears.

Totally agree. Unfortunately, the government sells flood insurance and I’m guessing it is subsidized and further eroded by taxes spent on benefits to people who don’t even pay for that.

On a related point, new government tax projects will come forth with funding you can bet to come off somebody else’s back:

http://current.com/shows/viewpoint/videos/rep-jerrold-nadler-new-york-is-not-prepared-for-climate-change/

Just wondering on those mandatory evacuation, did they sound the city’s PA or sirens in town? Nowadays everybody get’s a full 2 days of major storms. It’s just stupid to not leave, unless you have ample supply of food, water and power backup. Instead of focusing on the stupid 100 people who stayed, how about focusing on the 100,000+ civillians saved?

At least some admit they were mistaken and aren’t blaming others

There were far more than that saved, thank goodness.

The oft-repeated phrase in the interviews is "I've never seen anything like it...we've been here since 19xx, and this is the worst by far."

I was flooded out in Baton Rouge in the late 80's, and our house was above the 100-year floodplain. We got 3 feet of water inside the house, and those not on a hill were entirely submerged. Due to the location, we were one of three families who owned flood insurance in the entire neighborhood. The rest thought it not worth the expense, since they had never had any bad flooding as long as they had lived there.

I'll never forget the living stripe of insects, two feet wide, that surrounded the entire house. Every living thing with legs was slowly pushed up from the yard to the high-water mark, leaving behind a nightmarish, writhing invertebrate belt.

[shudder]

A large area of the US east coast was potential for severe damage, but not really relatively larger than many hurricanes.

Virginia to New Hampshire is about the same as Houston to West Florida, which was all at risk (and mostly hit hard) by Katrina.

Lots of small states in New England (where coastal areas are generally smaller than say Texas or Florida); and those populous states have mega-resources. Generally, they are far more likely to be backers of government bailouts, rather than tell their storm victims tough luck for living on the coast.

Where my sister lived in Texas, some of the home sites in her neighborhood were taken over by the state to become public beach after they were hit (due to erosion, regardless of whether the foundation was ripped out or the house was livable or could be easily restored). If I recall correctly, there was no compensation - will happen in NJ or NY?