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?
My sister’s island had door to door mandatory evacuation. LEOs knocked on every door and nobody was allowed to drive onto the island hours before landfall. Still some slipped through and stayed. One of her neighbors lived to tell of having the waves literally suck him from room to room and he managed to wedge himself from being pulled out into the sea. He wasn’t rescued till the next day. Mind, he was floating some 20+’ above the former ground level inside the house. He was also one of the lucky few who had 4 walls standing afterward.
If you look at the sat photos of damage along the jersey shore from Sandy, the first 8 to 10 houses closest to the beach were basically wiped off their lots. In Ike it was across the entire island where my sister lived; parts of maybe 15 or 20 houses out of 100 elevated homes remained in her neighborhood on just one side of the main road.
All i know is that I posted at some point that Monday night saying I still had power…
No less than one hour later I had none.
I did well till about Wednesday night or so with food and water. but after seeing the way people were acting and the gas situation I used the limited mass transit service to go to Port Authority and buy a ticket to Norfolk VA where I post from now. Best $60 ever spent.
I still would have been fine light and water wise, but people raiding dumpsters is not what I wanted to be a part of. I don’t know but 18 million people or so living on top of each other might have something to do with the fights and mentality. The city did try to get back on it’s feet by letting cars/trains back in so people could get to work. The fact is productivity was going to be near zero at the time.
Lets face it NYC (my home) is a bathtub waiting and wanting to be filled with crippling flood waters.
I will go back to Manhattan Sunday and hope some things are better in the region. My car is still full since I took the Greyhound here. I helped out my neighbors for the first few days then just left as my brain nor body can deal with the level of mess in some parts that was spilling over.
There are many tho that have constructively banded together and make things better for everyone. Lets all think of the greater good instead of self need.
The new normal
Anybody in Norfolk area wanna go see “Flight” today at the cinema
@Military Mall ?
Yeah. Did you also read that almost all earthquake experts quit their job after that? By sentencing them to prison they screwed themselves up on the long run. Its like suing the weather man for announcing sunshine when theres rain.. only worse.
Didn’t know that NightCrawl, but it does not surprise me.
Ironic, in that it is most likely lack of proper funding and equipment from the government that had them convicted that reduces their chance of accurate predictions.
I saw a documentary on earthquakes some time ago that showed it was basically impossible to predict them with any certainty as far as location and magnitude. The general causes are known, but the specifics cannot be.
Maybe they should jail the government instead, The world is going mad at an alarming rate.
Just got power back an hour ago! - busy running an extension thru another yard to a neighbor who is still out - at least they got their refrig powered now... Gotta use our gas now sparingly... The media has it so wrong - kept hearing there is no gas shortage -- of course there is! Every gas station in our town has power but no gas, and if they get it, it's allocated from the truck, then the station takes cash only, up to $50 per car - some less.
The TV reports in uk are showing some unrest at the Petrol pumps,unpleasant,upset,and fed up folks queing for many hours.The Mayor of staten Island says the ships cant unload fuel and goods properly atm.Thers also Thousands still with no power at all.
DON…
It's good to hear that our BLF members are safe and sound.
Exactly right. I agree. It’s very easy for someone to state what should of been done, but then again your not that person or know each ones exact situation. So don’t point the finger or throw stones.
I don’t think the main point to be taken from the Sandy situation is that people are idiots.
The bulk of the tragedy is storm related rather than the actions or inaction of particular individuals.
Certainly there’s very little reason for those of us not affected to get all worked up about how we would have handled ourselves had we been involved.
Sorry, this is FALSE. New Jersey did NOT turn away non union companies.
Here are statements directly from the Alabama Power utilities, New Jersey local news and CBS news.
http://alabamapowernews.com/private/ogaojGiFnx
A Note About New Jersey
We’ve seen a number of news reports about electric line crews that are being turned away in the state of New Jersey, on the grounds that the crews are non-union.
Rest assured, our Alabama Power crews have not been turned away from anywhere. Our employees are proudly representing us in several states that have been affected, and have received a warm reception everywhere they’ve been.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57544237/ala-utilities-our-crews-not-turned-away-from-n.j/
“Decatur Utilities, based in Decatur, Ala., denied the report…To be clear, at no time were our crews ”turned away” from the utility in Seaside Heights.”
““IBEW local leaders in New Jersey have reiterated what has been the long standing record of our union – in times of crisis all help is welcome and we pull together with everyone to meet the needs of the public.””
Thanks for the info , zot
Welcome to the forum .
I don't like the tone of this thread, but their are some good ideas there... 
Friends 4 hrs on line, then no gas. Another 3 hours, restricted to 3 gallons. When the fuel trucks come, they are only giving the station partial of their supply. As of yesterday, 2 local stations I know with power, next delivery is Monday. This may be all over by Monday or Tuesday, I'm thinking, but minor panic for the forecasted Nor'Easter coming in Wednesday. That's why I'm not wasting my time and panicking - our vehicles are 3/4, 1/4 and about 1/2 right now. Me, my wife and daughter here are good-to-go locally. My wife works within walking distance, and I could work at home if I had to for the next couple of days.
That’s great news Tom! Glad to hear its slowly getting better for you. In 2008 when Hurricane Ike blew through our area it was pretty bad. I live about 100 miles from the coast but we had so many trees and power lines down that it took exactly 1 week for them to restore our power. Gas stations as far 50 miles north of us had no power or gas so it was a week before we could return to work. Hang in there.
Finnish news just told, there are still people without electricity or gas / heating and temp is expected to go down almost near zero C.
Not funny at all…
Shame on this thread and the OP. Its aeasy to talk pure BS from Chicago, get your fat a-- away from lathe and help some folks rather than bad mouth them. The mother that was driving with her two small children in the middle of the storm was on the road because her boss told her she had to work late. A spanish speaking mother was driving her SUV with two infants and was blown into a ditch in the middle of the storm. In 90mph gusts she made her way to a the nearest house 22 feet away. When she knocked repeatedly and asked the owner to provide shelter from the storm for her 2 infant boys she was yelled at and told to get off the property. The mother with her two children went t the back of the house and attempted to throw a flower poy thru the window and shelter the 2 infants. After a few attempts the wind and tide of water had thrown the 2 infants into a field below. The mother held on and watched as they were dragged away. Next day officers found the 2 boys 1/4 of a mile away dead. She has yet to speak to anyone but police. The man that turned her and the 2 kids away was interviewed on live TV, and dissmissed the entire story as untrue. Until he was asked about the male in the car who knocked on his door , the home owner then said he told the male he wasn't able to help free his suv from the ditch. Obviously the guy was caught out lying and couldn't be prosecuted . OP - Is this the type your familiar with? Would you do the same? When asked for assistance ? Or will you berate a mother that lost her to children because a feeble minded human couldn't offer shelter for 1 mother and 2 infant children? I really dont give a F-- but you opened your hole and you may as well comment. Perhaps those that agree may want to hear what your capable of saying..
I do apologise if offended the majority of the good folks here but
i have little patience for ignorance and stupidity and racism..
What a sad,sad story.My Mrs works late and does a similar trip with my two young kids or has in the past.Juggling jobs,work,kids is part of todays society.Shes battled through some bad weather.Perhaps not on the scale of Sandy.The car is well equipped,but not for such a disaster.I would hope someone would at the very least give them shelter if they had trouble.Surely its a given to expect help from others in that situation or we are all DOOMED.Realy has blackened my mood reading that post,its like reading the script from a sick horror film.My God what sort of a world do we live in Today,that poor woman and her children…Darkside,your obviously upset fella,your human afterall.
DON… 