<p>Yes, I’ve been surprised by some of the comments on this thread,DonnaL.My guess is that some posters are just not getting how they are coming across.</p>
<p>Sevmom-- up in northern New Jersey, in Moonachie and Little Ferry, a levee broke and flooded three towns. They weren’t expecting it, and were not in an evacuation area.</p>
<p>Thanks, Cardinal Fang, I knew it was in NJ but couldn’t remember the names of the towns. So sad.</p>
<p>I was a volunteer at Katrina and one thing many posters (Certainly not all :)) are missing is the emotional feeling of helplessnes and fear. Life moves very slowly and getting things back like water, gas, warm food, shelter, clean clothes much less privacy and the feeling of safety does not happen quickly.
There will be many sad and horrid stories emerge in the next few weeks. I could probably write them ahead of the actual telling.
So please, this is not just about who prepared the best with the finances they had at hand.
Living through this will be life altering for many.</p>
<p>I heard this on the news: “a storm the size of Europe.” Just think about that for a second.</p>
<p>oregon101, Thanks for your expertise and help with Katrina. I think most of the posters here do understand the emotional issues that could come up. The thing that is harder to understand for me is actually the number of posters that just don’t seem to grasp how life altering this could be for many people.</p>
<p>For those of you in the affected areas, how might the rest of us best help? Some people who’ve had less than positive experiences with a particular mega aid organization aren’t inclined to donate to it, but surely there are others that are efficient and effective in getting help to those who most need it. In my area, for example, there are a few church groups (with which I have no affiliation) that I’ll donate to because they’ve done so much for local tornado victims.</p>
<p>Got word last night that our barrier island (LBI ) will not get power or gas back for months. They will start allowing homeowners in about a week, by town, onto the island to retrieve personal papers and check out their homes but not move back. All the gas lines on the 18 mile island have to be replaced before they can even begin to think about the electricity. We will need to arrange for a plumber to drain the pipes (winterized) from our home and we need to shut off, clean out,and prop open our Refridgerators. </p>
<p>I am too sad for words.</p>
<p>sorry for the bad typing but i broke my wrist yesterday - dominant hand of course.</p>
<p>dad and family in stuy town - 14 th st. still w/out power - my brother spoke to them for the first time yesterday - wanted to say that in the complex they organized groups to knock on every door and keepn eye on eldery people with disabilities.
the sad thing is my sister got stuck out of town and they could have stayed in her wash heights apt but no way to get ahold of them or get the key.</p>
<p>i want tosay special thanks to zoosermom for sending detailed observations - i sent the thread link to my sis who was able to make more informed decision about how and when to get back. 1st amtrak train she could get was tues. </p>
<p>baffled by some responses that seem to lack sympathy and so glad the marathon cancelled</p>
<p>Not suprised at all by some of these comments. Frankly, I remain in awe that so many people have empathy or care…I never expect that… in any case, sure for many a 20flight walk up steps is an inconvinence only. Like me, I am young and healthy (only the strong survive). I can go get more water, walk a few miles to get it, buy more blankets at bloomies (cash only!) and walk back. why didnt those eldery or handicapped people prepare better and stock their studio apartments with generators? ( sarcasm). Is that difficult to walk down 20 flights? ( sarcasm) Do have to say that I especially enjoy reading donna and zoosermom’s posts on tbis topic. If everything is fine on the uws who cares about the millions of others whose lives were completely uprooted. This can greatly affect many people : ptsd, nightmares etc these do lead to issues. all those people whose homes were evacuated many will need medications. Just things like that are not easy to deal with for many people. Especially if their pcp and pharmacies were floodied. I wonder how the homeless people who lived in nyc subways are doing. Hope they all got out before the storm. 
I already donated and will look into more organizations etc .</p>
<p>Emily- I’m 10 miles from atlantic city- and no the destruction down here is not equal to our northern coastal neighbors-
Opening the casinos. Provides 1000s and 1000s with much needed income-
Can not compare the opened casinos to the marathon -</p>
<p>[Hurricane</a> Sandy update: Local residents banned from barrier island up to 8 months | NJ.com](<a href=“Hurricane Sandy update: Local residents banned from barrier island up to 8 months - nj.com”>Hurricane Sandy update: Local residents banned from barrier island up to 8 months - nj.com)</p>
<p>I don’t know where the writer came up with the “eight months” part of the headline but it is going to be a while before people can return. If you or any family have a home on the barrier island the embedded video is worth watching. It has one of the local police chiefs talking about a gathering of most of the chiefs and the game plan to allow owners a brief visit back to gather belongings.</p>
<p>DD is heading off this morning to help with the cleanup in Red Hook.</p>
<p>Everyone affected by this storm has my sympathy. I think some people are set in their way of thinking and think they know best, but it does seem like one would have the sense to know when and where to keep those opinions to themselves.</p>
<p>I want to help so much and don’t know how. If I could I would be there trying to help clean up, but that isn’t something I can realistically manage. The pictures I have seen are horrifying, but I am glad I have seen them and I am glad I have read the stories here. People need to know how devastating this has been for many. I will pray for everyone. I am afraid that is all I can do.</p>
<p>Just read this headline " no work, no pay for thousands of casino workers"
The largest union represents 14,000 workers- and casinos are setting up hurricane relief funds for those effected-</p>
<p>Another perspective, from this am. [Sandy</a> washed away contingency plans across New York region | Reuters](<a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/03/us-storm-sandy-contingency-plans-idUSBRE8A206G20121103]Sandy”>http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/03/us-storm-sandy-contingency-plans-idUSBRE8A206G20121103)
Multiply that by the volume of businesses inthe affected area.</p>
<p>I think the above link is interesting - some companies do have disaster recovery or contingency plans but I’m sure many do not - or if they do, they probably didn’t test them out or didn’t have the resources in the middle of the storm to implement them. I do work for one of the large corporations as referenced in the link. We have contingency plans and a DR plan for situations such as this -we as a whole don’t close so it’s a necessary plan. </p>
<p>Obviously the city is a different animal but as i said above as an example my work building didn’t have power pretty much all week till Friday and most of my coworkers are still with out. Thankfully we have another office an hour away that did have power. </p>
<p>Monday and tuesday, those of us who could work remotely did and the rest received paid company time off. As of Wednesday, we implemented the bigger part of the plan… We bussed hundreds of people to another office. (other parts of our company did the same thing in regards to relocating employees to another office) If they couldn’t come for whatever reason they could take off. They fed everybody breakfast and lunch and offered up the showers in the facility for those without power to use. </p>
<p>I do know we had to refill the generator at our office that was keeping our data center up and running - this is where the PC’s for our remote workers are stored and we had a few servers that are typically up here that fell over to their backup server not on the east coast so they continued to stay up. So glad we test that each year to make sure it works.</p>
<p>I think a lot of companies up here will learn things from this and start to implement or at least test their plans more regularly.</p>
<p>I too am dismayed about some of the posts here. It’s an inconvenience for me, because I was very lucky. But for so many people, it’s an ongoing huge set of challenges and losses. Beyond the wholesale distruction of houses, many others were flooded and severely damaged. The town I grew up in is on the Raritan bay shore–it’s never flooded from a storm like this. People I know a mile or more from the bay had 3 feet of water in their houses. That’s just one of many instances of flooding in areas where it has never happened. Should we blame these people for not picking up their houses and moving them when storm warnings went out?</p>
<p>Much of New Jersey’s economy is based on those amusement piers, boardwalks, beach clubs, restaurants, bars, motels, rental houses, that you can see destroyed in all those pictures. That’s taxes gones, that’s jobs gone. Many, many jobs.</p>
<p>Lots of those people who have no heat, no gas, no ice, no way to keep track of going on, also have contingent jobs (see New York Times article today.) so they’re not getting paid.</p>
<p>Personally, I know several people who lost houses. I can’t even imagine what that feels like. I really, really worry that we’re going to be dismissed as an inconvenience and castigated because a few people didn’t leave houses–as if everything would be fine here if they had.</p>
<p>I feel terrible about the storm and feel I am whining. D is in the Lehigh valley. She got power back Wednesday afternoon but many of her friends haven’t so she’s hosting an apartment full of people.</p>
<p>Her employer announced Thursday that her department will be relocating out west next year. What this means for her, I don’t know. She was updating her r</p>
<p>And I also think it makes sense to open the casinos if it’s feasible because the area needs the economy not to fall apart. Even though the hurricane hit near there, the worse damage is farther north. There’s gas and electric in most areas in south jersey so the logistical challenges are surmountable.</p>
<p>Regarding the now-cancelled marathon: I would love to know how the decision process went. Did mayor B listen to the wrong people when initially deciding to go ahead with the marathon? Did he listen to no one and decide to carry on on his own? I think knowing this process would be enlightening.</p>