The Human face of Superstorm Sandy

In My Humble Opinion
1

Might this be a tipping point for this city? I despair what will occur in the coming weeks. It’s cold out. There’s almost no fuel, no power, heat, food, transportation and for some, no housing at all. Lower Manhattan is decimated by salt water. Parts of Brooklyn and Queens similarly so.

Would there be the cold-shouldering or the humane embracing of strangers in a moment of most humbling and profound need? Would residents and hotels around the most stricken areas open their doors, their hot showers, to strangers?

What can people do? How much responsibility should be borne by citizens to do what they can for their fellows? How much is shuffled off onto the faceless government ( state or Federal, I don’t care ).

What can citizens do? What would you want to do if you lived within 10 blocks of an affected area?

How civil is our civilization going to be in the face of this?

2

I was half listening to the radio on the way to work and someone was saying how there were people getting frustrated at the lack of immediate action in certain areas and that neighbors were starting to steal from neighbors. I wish now I had paid more attention, but if that report is accurate, in at least some pockets, the *warm-and-fuzzy-we’re-gonna-get-thru-this-together *vibe is absent.

It also seems like some people have unreal expectations of how long it takes to fix things - the whole immediate gratification thing. Despite what one sees on TV, you can’t get back to normal and fade to black in the course of an hour program.

3

After Hurricane Ike, it took up to 3 weeks for power to be restored to some areas of Houston. Cleaning up the debris (mostly trees & parts of trees) took much longer. That’s just in the city, not down along the Gulf where things were devastated. Some (like me) just lost power for a few hours; others (on the coast) lost everything…

We didn’t have to deal with cold–just heat. And our mass transit system, such as it is, does* not* run underground.

Some people did move in with friends or family, but government aid (on all levels) was needed. This is not the place to discuss the details of how our jackass governor handled himself. Luckily, we had a smart mayor.

4

I think you’ll see the best in some people and the worst in others. Last night’s news had a lady who was so busy helping, making sandwiches and feeding strangers, that she hadn’t even made it home yet to see what damage she herself had suffered. FDNY, Search & Rescue are all working tirelessly. Electric crews from as far away as Texas and California have arrived en masse to help.

Unfortunately though it seems like everytime they show long gas lines there’s always someone trying to cut in and reports of police being needed to break up fights. There’s looters and others that either through opportunity or desperation will take advantage of the situation.

I hope some of you that are seeing this firsthand will share your experience when time and effort allow. Only so much can be related through conventional news sources and that’s never the whole story.

5

People are also dumpster diving for food behind supermarkets. The thin veneer is worn away in many areas. People who are used to a high level of comfort ( relative to most folks on our planet ) are now utterly bereft. The fuel thing alone is daunting as hell. What amazes me is the gas stations with tons of fuel and no power- but if someone could score them a generator, they could RUN IT OFF OF THE GASOLINE THEY HAVE UNDERGROUND IN THEIR TANKS ! :smack::smack::smack::smack:

Taxicabs are becoming more scarce today. Just saw a long story on the t.v. about people waiting 2-3 hours in line for fuel. Many stations are closed because they are dry. I’m so very grateful I do not have to drive anywhere. I’ve only got 1/2 a tank.

6

I saw the “dumpster diving” video on WNBC and what a complete load of shit. The truth is they could walk out of the West Village quite easily at this point and go out for chinese. No one is starving in the streets in the West Village. Do they have electricity? No. Can they get free food and water at distribution points? Yes. It’s been a miserable week for a lot of people, but the people in the video are people who would be trying to score a freebie out of a dumpster, storm or no storm. This time no one is around to arrest them. The storm was heavily publicized and food and supplies were available through various times on Monday. Today is Friday. Could you survive for four days on what you have in your kitchen and any extra you bought because of a storm warning? Or would you be “starving” and “dumpster diving” like feral children?

I don’t have a tale of near death. Just stayed away from the windows and was glad I paid my insurance and stocked up on supplies. No idea when we will be returning to work as our office building was affected and no one has any real answers as to when we can be in there and operational. Right now it looks like next week.

Has it been a shit week? Yes. The storm damage is astonishing. Some areas were destroyed and those areas are not going to be fixed overnight. Many people are under the misconception that FEMA is going to drive up and hand them a bag full of cash when their insurance company is the first place they need to turn. From what I can see, everyone is doing what they can as fast as they can. The problem is sheer volume.

The gas lines are insane, but to be fair, most people have ignored the non-emergency driving bans that were in place all week and those people have no one to blame but themselves for using up their gas. It was a no-brainer that there would be shortages.

Mostly people have been polite and helpful, with the exception of the usual assholes. I have no idea how they are going to get all the rental cars that are going to be needed into NJ, and temporary housing. Hotels in this area don’t have a high vacancy rate to begin with, so I have no idea where all the people with uninhabitable homes are going to go.

I took my boss and his menagerie into my boyfriend’s home (he’s out of town) because he didn’t have electricity or food at his home. I had a feeling I would need to take someone in, but he was just about the last person I expected. Since I ended up not needing my storm food supplies, I split them up between friends that lost power.

I took out a healthy emergency supply of cash before the storm which turned out to be a really smart move. No power means no debit or credit cards. ATM’s that are being restocked are running out of cash as fast as they put it in. My pharmacy is only letting in people that they know because of the risk factor.

There is a curfew in my boyfriend’s NJ neighborhood. A lot of traffic lights were out, not so much now. If there is power, places are open. No power, almost everything is closed. It can be odd. Wednesday night we went to a Broadway show and dinner like everything was normal and then went back to my boyfriend’s place in NJ. Most of the bus ride was pitch black. His block was one of the few in the area that still had power.

Just going with the flow.

7

Not that this compares to the terrible woes of the hardest hit, but I just found out that I ought to be going to a funeral in Orange County in the next few days. I have a half a tank of fuel- will get me there, not get me home.

My son who lives up there tells me there’s no gas to be had up there. I know NJ is a mess and NYC is almost dry, with a few places having tankers deliver only to sell out shortly. I cannot go.

:frowning:

8

I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but there’s supposed to be another storm approaching that will hit the Eastern seaboard on or near Wednesday afternoon. I’m not sure how big it’ll be, but this will just be another slap in the face to areas that just got bitch-slapped a few days ago.