<p>“emilybee,It’s been more than an " inconvenience” for many,many people. I’m baffled at your continued insistence on minimizing this."</p>
<p>I’m minimizing nothing that is happening in the devastated areas at all. in fact, I probably know more about the devastation and what is going on in those areas than most of you on this board. But for most of the area and for most of the people it’s a power issue, and while days on end without power is lousy, not having your creature comforts, being stuck in hours of traffic and waiting on gas lines, when it ends those people’s lives will go back to normal very quickly.</p>
<p>My heart goes out to all affected. I’m one who spent many happy times on the NJ shore. Any family and friends still in NJ live much further inland. </p>
<p>This isn’t the Southeast or NOLA, where people are/were aware of persistent environmental threats and have clear memories of past devastation- FL and the Carolina coastlines with with annual hurricanes or NOLA with a large segment of the city known to be below levee levels. Nor was it an “ordinary” winter blizzard, which most Northeasterners have experienced. How could residents of NJ/NY have any personal frame of reference for what was coming, the power of the winds and water?</p>
<p>If great numbers are still suffering, it matters little that pockets of the City have some of their “normal” services restored. Predictions that things will stabilize lickety-split underplay the tragedy. The idea things can return to life-as-usual in a matter of days is astounding. You are all in my thougts and prayers.</p>
<p>I don’t think having no power in 20-30 degree weather is a mere inconvenience, certainly for those who can’t afford generators. We lost power for 8 days this summer from the Derecho…THAT was an inconvenience, and hot and sweaty. But no heat right now is a lot more serious. It means living in a shelter or other people’s homes or staying home and dealing with extreme cold…which is bad enough for healthy young people but many are old or ill or very young. </p>
<p>And it looks like another storm may be coming :(</p>
<p>I know I’m late to the discussion on the mom who, tragically, lost her two boys but I have to agree with the posters who laid the blame on her. The man in the house had no obligation to let her in nor help. Matter of fact, in the middle of such a bad storm a woman, throwing a flower pot at a backdoor and breaking it, could easily be mistaken for a man. Had she done that here in Virginia she would have likely been shot and killed by the homeowner thinking it was a home invasion.</p>
<p>I don’t know how anyone can possibly claim that “most” people were back to work by Wednesday, even in Manhattan – never mind the other boroughs – when Manhattan was without power until tonight below 39th Street on the East Side and 31st Street on the West. No power = no elevators, and no water above the first couple of floors. You think nobody works down in that part of Manhattan? You think “most” people were working in that part of Manhattan in buildings without light, heat, elevators, or water? Or subways to get there? Seriously?</p>
<p>And please stop being so dismissive by insisting on minimizing the problems and calling them an “inconvenience.” It’s really offensive (as is saying you know more than people who actually live here because you’ve been watching New York 1), apart from everything else wrong with it. Would you tell elderly people living on the 15th or 20th floor that it’s just an “inconvenience” not to have water? Not to be able to go out to buy food because they won’t be able to walk up the stairs when they get back? Not everybody has friends and family and neighbors ready to help them.</p>
<p>Oh please, I lost power for 10 days during an ice storm 3 years ago and temps were well below freezing. We have no generator. It was awful for sure, but in the grand scheme of things an inconvenience, not a crisis of life changing proportion, and something that once the power was back on was quickly forgotten.</p>
<p>31-39th streets on east side are STILL without power. There are many seniors living in those buildings, no power, no water, no hot food since Monday.</p>
<p>We have a generator. We went out ahead of the storm and filled up 2 5 gallon gas cans and made sure all 3 of our vehicles were full of gas. We also have a kerosene heater, lots of canned food, a way to cook it and cases of bottled water on hand at all times. I do feel very bad for the people in NY and NJ who lost their homes but there were plenty of warnings to prepare.</p>
<p>“not a crisis of life changing proportions.” Great for you but not so for many. The elderly, young children, disabled, mentally or physically ill can be greatly impacted by these kinds of events. Not everyone is as resilient as others. Just because your event was “quickly forgotten” by you does not mean that is the case for others.</p>
<p>I’m really worried about the elderly and people who can’t get around. How sad if they don’t have anyone to help them. Wouldn’t you hope that people in those apartment buildings, with their neighbors all alround, would be aware enough to help the senior citizen next door?</p>
<p>You are fortunate you have those things, HOWEVER, there are many people who are on fixed incomes, or familys that live paycheck to paycheck that don’t have any of those things! All the warnings in the world don’t mean crap if you don’t have the money and resources to buy and have those things. Sheesh!</p>
<p>I don’t doubt an ice storm was merely “an inconvenience” for some people. This was an event of stunning and geographically widespread consequences. Most definitely a crisis of life changing proportions for many. And, in a high density area, not familiar with this sort of thing. It’s not good for anyone to say, I got through X, so you buck up. Or, I didn’t have a generator - or I filled mine with gas - so “get past it.” Do you really mean that?</p>
<p>Inconvenience? Yeah, sure - where I live, a power outage is usually not much more than a huge inconvenience. But I have a wood stove, stacks of firewood outside, room to store LOTS of water & supplies for just such an event . . . in other words, I have everything that a NYC apartment dweller can only dream of. Thank goodness it’s not the middle of winter yet . . . but what does one do for heat in a NYC apartment with no power???</p>
<p>“You are fortunate you have those things, HOWEVER, there are many people who are on fixed incomes, or familys that live paycheck to paycheck that don’t have any of those things! All the warnings in the world don’t mean crap if you don’t have the money and resources to buy and have those things. Sheesh!”</p>
<p>We have those things because they are a priority not because we are “fortunate”. All 3 of those cars are owned outright- one is 18 years old. We are not poor but when my children go off to college, we will qualify for need based aid. It is about priorities.</p>
<p>Can we remember here that twenty million people live in the Tristate Area, where this storm hit worse? Twenty million people. So even if most people still have power, some, what, two million people do not? When you see Con Ed or Jersey Central Power and Light quote about how many still lack power, remember that’s households, not people. A quarter million customers just in Manhattan lacked power this morning-- and each customer is probably about two people.</p>
<p>“We are not poor.” Generators are not cheap and most people just do not have them. Great that you have acquired these kinds of things and had them as a “priority” but I don’t see how it is helpful to imply that everybody should have been/could have been as prepared as you. People are hurting. There were some areas that were totally taken by surpise with this. (Can’t remember where-I think a levee broke).</p>
<p>It is about resources and you have more than most. If you don’t feel fortunate that you had the resources to have 3 cars with gas, then I’m at a loss for words. How could a family or an individual with no discretionary income at all be prepared in that way?</p>
<p>Go ahead. Try running a gas generator inside a New York City apartment. Be my guest. See where it gets you. Same thing with owning three cars. Get ready to spend $10-15,000 per year on garage fees, not to mention thousands of dollars for car insurance. Priorities.</p>
<p>The lack of empathy displayed by a small handful of people here is remarkable.</p>