<p>Hi everyone… just checking in… What a mess this week has been!</p>
<p>All is OK here - lost quite a few branches on my trees and my yard is a mess of branches and leaves - but apart from that my property is OK and no flooding. I chained my grill to my patio - which is a good thing because it tried to escape. I found it partially tipped over with a hole in its cover! I lost power on Monday and just got it back today. When I came back home today my house was 52 degrees.</p>
<p>Cell phone service in the area has been spotty at best but seems to be better today. </p>
<p>I picked up a small space heater last week at home depot and i just warmed my bedroom up to a nice temperature while I’m waiting for the rest of my house to creep up to normal with the heat pump over night. We had over a hundred thousand people out of power in the area and our grocery stores are giving out 3 bags of ice and a case of bottled water to residents who come in without power. We still have about 50k without power.</p>
<p>my biggest adventure this week was the fact that my work building lost power. We pretty much almost never close but my building closed monday and tuesday. we had to implement our disaster recovery plans on Wednesday and get all of our employees to another location to work. We bussed about 150 people to our other office yesterday and today and we created enough work spaces with computers and phones for everyone on such short notice! Talk about team work! </p>
<p>My work bought us breakfast both days and purchased lunch yesterday for probably about 800 employee’s who were in office - about 210 pizzas! I still would have loved to see the look on the face of the person who took that order!!! I’m just assuming they came from different places!! Thankfully work’s power came back today too so things should return to normal tomorrow!</p>
<p>The point is that Sandy was more powerful over a larger area than any previous storm in the northeast. The point is that the sea levels are rising and storms will have a greater impact than in the past. There wasn’t a point made as to the cause.</p>
<p>Re availability of gasoline in southern NJ…we live near Exit 4 on the turnpike, and an employee at a gas station told me that a lot of his recent customers have been folks from outside our area, filling gas cans.</p>
<p>^ well sea levels had nothing to do with the strength of Sandy as it was a result of 2 storms converging and meeting a cold air mass from the north. I agree with your point of higher sea levels will cause more problems with storm surge.</p>
<p>According to wikipedia, Irene and Sandy are the first storms since 1903 to cause hurricane-force winds in NJ. Sandy is the first hurricane since 1903 to make landfall in New Jersey.</p>
<p>Is two in two years due to climate change? Who knows.</p>
<p>This one sounds bad:
</p>
<p>50 years ago, people built shacks and cottages at the shore, not million-dollar houses. So damage estimates have gone way up relative to how much destruction there actually is.</p>
<p>Plus, I believe the damage estimates are over-exaggerated. It makes a better sound bite.</p>
<p>I’m sorry but I have to disagree with this. It’s not exaggerated. I live on the south shore of Long Island and have been through several hurricanes. This week has been unbelievable. The trees down, the power lines, the water, the flooding, the widespread devastation from here to NJ to CT and south of here. Plus the damage in NYC - the subways, the tunnels, I can go on and on.</p>
<p>DS has been out of school this week. Helped clean out a flooded house today and saw boats in front yards and even more trees on houses. DH has been working from home as his building in downtown Manhattan has no power and has been closed. We had no power, internet, cable from Mon evening thru Wed evening and just lost one huge branch. We were the lucky ones. Tons of trees down everywhere. Traffic lights out. I can’t even describe neighborhood after neighborhood with damage.</p>
<p>I understand the sound bites the news media are looking for. In fact, I ran into a local news crew at Dunkin Donuts (where I could get coffee and an internet signal on Tuesday afternoon) - the reporter was happy to find some HS students who had homes that were flooded. But the fact of the matter is that it is horrible in so many places. Yes, this was an equal opportunity storm, destroying both large and small houses on the water as well as inland. But believe me, the destruction is real, it’s huge and it’s expansive.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I’m ranting a bit. I just have a problem with the comment that I quoted above…it really is that bad here and some communities will never be the same.</p>
<p>LINYmom–I sure understand your frustration. We ourselves got off comparatively lightly, but we were lucky. Devastation everywhere in NJ. Reports every day of more houses and businesses gravely damaged or destroyed. Thousands living in shelters. Jobs threatened. No heat still for hundreds of thousands, with temperatures falling to 30s at night. Crippling gas shortages. I think it’s hard to comprehend from outside. People like the soundbite that it’s the media or someone else exaggerating.</p>
<p>That may be true but NJ has felt the wrath of many more storms than that, even if they were not official hurricane force winds. One of the worst wasn’t even during hurricane season, in March 1962. Devastating damage with entire sections of towns along the coast, particularly on LBI totally washed away. And no, it wasn’t only shacks and cottages, even 50 years ago!</p>
<p>My H and I had to evacuate twice during NJ vacations, in '76 and in '85. Those winds and heavy rain can wreak a lot of havoc even without full hurricane force status when it hits.</p>
<p>Garland - what county are you in? JCPL or PSEG? </p>
<p>Our reconnect time now NEXT Friday! I did see a crew out this morning, but they are only single house hookup guys and we need our street line restrung. I can’t complain too much, as we are stringing an extension cord from our neighbor with power and alternating with the fridge and boiler (heat), plus we have 2 lamps with very bright florescent bulbs that lights up the a good bit of the 1st floor. Gas water heater has worked the entire time. </p>
<p>I have a colleague in Long Beach, LI that I assume lost his house. He’s lived there 20+ years, as he’s a surfer and loves the location. At least 3 of his 4 kids are in college and not living at home. An email from the office indicates we have 3-4 people that have lost houses, I think the others are on Staten Island.</p>
<p>Of course, anyone who doesn’t believe in science will simply say it’s all some great big conspiracy with every scientist fabricating evidence or some such nonsense.</p>
<p>It seems that the Staten Island situation is getting more attention.</p>
<p>Did anyone else see the interview with the guy whose house the woman who lost her 2 sons allegedly tried to get into? I think he is in for a very bad time in that neighborhood going forward.</p>
<p>Such a long time. My sister’s in Westchester is estimated to be 10 more days. They are going to their D’s in Pittsburgh for the weekend (pre-planned) but after they vote on Tuesday morning are coming here with their dog. </p>
<p>The fewer people on your loop without electricity the longer it will take to be restored.</p>
<p>Emilybee - thanks for the article. I will read carefully later.<br>
I cannot believe the marathon is still on. As a previous NY marathon runner and a born and raised NYer, I understand the temptation to move ahead, but the logistics of the start in SI boggle the mind (esp. with no SI Ferry option). Also, the VN bridge literally bounces with all the runners on it in a normal year. I hope structural engineers have ensured it did not suffer any damage/stress during Sandy.<br>
So sorry to hear of continuing issues with power, transportation, gas etc.</p>
<p>Finally! What took so long? I heard about NJ and lower Manhattan but not much about Stanten Island until this morning. Their devastation seems just as bad if not worse.</p>
<p>“Did anyone else see the interview with the guy whose house the woman who lost her 2 sons allegedly tried to get into?” </p>
<p>For the life of me, though, I cannot understand why people, who are told to evacuated don’t. I’m having a very difficult time mustering sympathy for these parents. They had cars and a means to evacuate when told to.</p>
<p>Imo, it usually takes time for the most devastated region to show up in the news. SI is much more isolated than the rests of the area and was pretty much just cut off from the media. No way to get reporters onto the island with bridges closed and communication from those on SI was cut off.</p>
My sister’s in Westchester is estimated to be 10 more days. They are going to their D’s in Pittsburgh for the weekend (pre-planned) but after they vote on Tuesday morning are coming here with their dog. </p>