<p>I wonder if we’ve ever met. My entire extended family is in Ohio.</p>
<p>In HI, most people do not evacuate. Since the Japan tsunami, H now evacuates, but most people in our state didn’t, even those in the inundation zone. It’s hard to second-guess others.</p>
<p>We had a client who was just wading in water when he was swept out to sea and drowned in a strong current. The water was below his knees and he was a strong, fit young man. His parents never recovered from losing him. Water is very VERY strong and unpredictable.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine the pain of having children swept out of your arms never to be seen again, whatever the reason.</p>
<p>We had some flooding a while back. I was checking a road to see if it was washed out, standing in water ankle deep and it was hard to keep my balance in THAT. I can’t imagine trying to hang on to 2 kids in deeper water.</p>
<p>Looks like the marathon is a go.
</p>
<p>[Generators</a> power up New York City Marathon tent as rest of city struggles without electricity after Hurricane Sandy - NYPOST.com](<a href=“http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/this_is_no_way_to_get_us_up_running_egrMk4ukpzFCGhSF8oM5kN]Generators”>This is no way to get us up & running)</p>
<p>A friend who lives by Central Park says its more like 6-7 generators.</p>
<p>“I feel like many of the people who stayed in LB were old and housebound without relatives nearby and that kind of thing. Not everyone, of course. And some people will stay to deter looters.”</p>
<p>About the only ones I can understand are the housebound without family but people who stay because it’s never happened before, it’s inconvenient to evacuate or the most ludicrous reason, in my opinion, to protect their homes or deter looters, gets zero sympathy from me. Putting material possessions which can be replaced, above that which is irreplaceable…mind boggling.</p>
<p>'A friend who lives by Central Park says its more like 6-7 generators."</p>
<p>While I don’t think holding the marathon is the greatest idea at the moment, these are private generators. If people want things like generators to be provided by the city or state governments or the federal government during emergencies then they need to be willing to pay more in taxes in order to have these types of things (among many other things available.) The problem in this country is everyone wants services and they want them immediately in a disaster, but no one wants to pay for them.</p>
<p>We do pay for the police who are being diverted to marathon duty. </p>
<p>I suspect the marathon runners who aren’t professionals are going to be very bothered by what they see because the marathon staging area was very hard hit. Hopefully they will refrain from using residents’ lawns as toilets and garbage cans and from camping out in others’ cars and porches this year</p>
<p>“We do pay for the police who are being diverted to marathon duty.”</p>
<p>Which is one of the reasons I don’t think it’s a good reason, but linking it to the privately owned generators, which are likely being rented (ie paid for) by the NYRR, is a totally different thing. And the company who owns them has no obligation to give them to the city. </p>
<p>This type of thing illustrates what would happen if FEMA and emergency services are left up to the private sector. Those that can afford to pay get the things they need, and those that don’t are SOL. Because, believe it or not, private companies are in business to make money and lots of it, for themselves and/or their shareholders.</p>
<p>You’re absolutely right about the generators. Their owner is under no particular obligation to assist. And, frankly, the people of Staten Island are never on top of anyone’s list to help.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s their own generators but they will also line up to get gas to power them. Are grocery stores well stocked in NY? If not, the participants will be competing against residents to get water, bread. And hotels? Are hotels kicking out evacuees to house runners? To stage a big event like this, I would think City Hall will have to get involved distracting from the emergency.</p>
<p>I don’t know where they will get gas. Good question. Gas is very hard to come by on Staten Island and people have resorted to violence.</p>
<p>The marathon isn’t popula here ever because it causes so much inconvenience every year. This is worse, though, because closing the Bridge makes getting around the rest of the Island very difficult and we don’t need that this year. Supermarkets don’t have much food yet and many are still closed due to power outages. Yesterday I walked face-first into a dangling (not live) power line because I was so excited by the wonder bread truck. When anyone sees a delivery truck, they contact everyone they know.</p>
<p>"The fact is that the mother should have evacuated when told to. It is her fault that her children drowned, not the man in the house. She put her children in danger of losing their lives and paid the tragic consequence of her decision.
And yes, I saw a picture of the mother. " a quote from emilybee (yikes)</p>
<p>Wow emilybee! You and BCEagle are quite a pair. I am about to throw up from the heartlessness of your comments.
We are human (although not sure about you two).We all make mistakes. She lost her two babies!!! I guess you two wouldn’t open the door either.</p>
<p>‘I agree that it’s their own generators but they will also line up to get gas to power them.’</p>
<p>I am sure they are not waiting in line at some gas station to get as for these huge generators - which, btw, are in Central Park, not SI. </p>
<p>There is also not a food shortage in NYC. There are shortages in area with no power because the grocery stores and restaurants have no power to open, keep food cold/cook food, etc. Places were there is power are getting plenty of food. Restaurants are open, etc., etc. etc. People in the affected areas could go to an unaffected area to get things though likely arenot because of the logistics of getting there, difficulty in getting bags of food back to where they are and nothing to heat the food with.</p>
<p>Marathoners, most who are from out of town, will be going to eat in restaurants which have plenty of food.</p>
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<p>1+1=2</p>
<p>You can feel badly about a tragedy in someone’s life, yet still assign that person the responsibility for what happened.</p>
<p>There was a whole chain of events that led up to this, you can’t put the blame solely on the guy at the end.</p>
<p>I have not been able to read thought this thread. Just want to say that I hope all CC friends are well! </p>
<p>My house is still standing. No heat,electric, cell service, etc., so I left. I will need to return before electricity is restored and I dread the idea. Still, we know that we are very fortunate. Best wishes to those hit and going through the aftermath!</p>
<p>I want to say what a source of information this has been for those of us not in the area affected. I am so sad to feel the tension and fighting. But am so happy to hear from each and every person affected by the storm to see that they are alright.</p>
<p>If you have a minute, take a look at this video. [msnbc</a> video](<a href=“http://www.nbcnews.com/id/49263362#49652895]msnbc”>http://www.nbcnews.com/id/49263362#49652895) Some people on one of the threads snarked about a small island, but I think many people don’t realize that Staten Island is actually larger than Manhattan and Boston and more populous than New Orleans, Miami and Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>
Being unable to get to unaffected areas to obtain food or to store/prepare food is the very definition of a food shortage, isn’t it? And people in Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn and Queens haven’t got their transportation options restored and can’t get gas for their cars. Marathoners often eat and stay at hotels on Staten Island, but isn’t going to happen this year.</p>
<p>At this point, we have no information on why she did not evacuate earlier. There could be any number of reasons. What was her husband’s role? Was she waiting for him? Did he tell her to stay? Who knows! We don’t even know why she was driving through that particular area. (It sounds as if it is HIGHLY unlikely that she lived there!)</p>
<p>Yes, she should have evacuated earlier. But she has paid a huge price for that misjudgment. As did the family who stayed because their house was looted when they evacuated for Irene: the little girl dead, the father missing, the mother hospitalized.</p>
<p>Personally, I would reserve judgment until or unless those things are known. And even then, walk a mile in her shoes…yet again, people should not make assumptions about how they would act in a crisis until they find themselves in that situation.</p>
<p>That does not excuse the heartlessness of the man in the house. A single desperate person or an adult and two small children offered no credible threat to him.</p>
<p>I haven’t thought much about the marathon until this afternoon as I’m dealing w my own power/logistic issues, but I believe it will be a logistical disaster for the runners who are not able to get to the start line on time, etc. There will be quite a bit of second guessing on Monday in my opinion. </p>
<p>Friend of mine posted on FB today: “I grew up blocks from where the NYC marathon starts…my mother still lives there (and fortunately is safe). It is symbolic that tens of thousands will barely set foot on Staten Island and leave shortly after, with their backs literally towards almost all of Staten Island, standing blocks from where people died this week…where children died this week. Yes, running the marathon is indeed symbolic. Cancel the race”</p>
<p>The NY press has not given much time to Staten Island until the past day or so. All eyes have been on NJ, Breezy Point and lower Manhattan. From the pictures now showing up, there appear to still be flood waters there.</p>
<p>Regarding the woman w children. I was at my beach house boarding it up Sunday when EMS came by to tell my neighbors to evacuate. He didn’t mince words and painted a very bleak picture - no power for 2 weeks, expect 2+ feet water in the street plus the waves, etc. Both of them opted to stay, as they didn’t think it would be that bad. People benchmarked the storm to Irene, the Dec '92 nor’easter and possibly Gloria in '85. Very few people thought it would be what it was (my friends & family thought I was chicken little at the time, but now they thank me for what I told them to do).</p>