Hurricane Sandy

Friends of ours in NJ haven't been in touch since this morning. We're hoping it is just power failure.

Bart,

Hope you and the rest of the right-coasters are staying warm and dry.  Let us know how things went when you get a chance.

The videos coming out of lower Manhattan are surreal.  The subway is flooded.  There's a huge fire in Queens.  Water is pouring into the construction site at ground zero.  Just saw footage of nurses carrying premature infants on battery-operated incubators out of NYU's medical center.  No power of course, and the reporter said that some of the intensive care units are fifteen flights up.

And despite the order to evacuate, over a thousand people are stranded (some on rooftops) in downtown Atlantic City, hoping this morning to be rescued.

Something like 30 dead so far.  Over 8 million people without power (and that number is expected to rise as the storm moves inland). The cost of this hurricane is incalculable.

Thank goodness for the bravery of the first responders:  police, fire fighters, nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, and so on.  The Governors of the effected states have also universally praised the proactive efforts of FEMA (in stark contrast to the lingering memories of Katrina).  I know now is not the time for politics, but I hope that the fiscal hawks demanding smaller government will remember the images of this day some six months to a year from now.

Hook

PS - @Bart and TomK and all others with family and friends in the effected areas -- we hope and pray for your safety.  If you have power and an internet connection, please let us know how you are doing.

Heard on the BBC news that there are hospitals in NYC completely without power as their emergency generators are in the basement which have flooded. 

From what I've seen so far it's surprising there aren't more than 30 deaths. The weather system is apparently bigger than the whole of Europe.

Wishing everyone involved the best of luck.

Steve

Quick post from the Upper West Side....fortunately we still have power and have had no real damage. All our friends and colleagues in southern manhattan are without power. A sub station on 14th street and the east blew last night around 10pm, taking out power to all below 40th st except for the ESB.

City is eerily quiet up here.

Best, David

As DQ said, fortunately it was just a big rain where we were in the Upper West Side.

But it is bad for a lot of people in Lower Manhattan and NJ - Parts of Lower Manhattan are flooded with seawater. Seawater also found its way into road tunnels and the subway system. The situation in NJ is even worse, power remained out for roughly 1.5 million people there, the ocean is on the road in some areas, trees down everywhere.

Peter,

Where are you? We are 90 & Riverside Dr.

I have everything unplugged for now - makes things even quieter.

Cheers

I am pretty near to  W 72nd and Broadway.

I would not be worried about the power, things are slowly getting back to normalcy now.

I am in northern NJ and am without power (typing this from my office), but I am thankful compared to what others are experiencing.  They are estimating one week to 10 days to restore power here.  We do have hot water and a gas stove that works so that's a good thing. 

Sandy turns out to be worse than I thought originally - Death toll is 37 in NYC alone, subway / transit system is in chaos, gas stations running out of fuel, many homes still have not power...

Just heard a report on the radio form Haiti post-Sandy. More casualties and hundreds of thousands who still live in atrocious temporary accommodation after the earthquake once again disrupted and with their tents and belongings strewn in the wind. Cholera stations seeing new cases.

We forget about other places so fast don't we.

In a slightly uncomfortable juxtaposition the item before was a man from Manhattan describing how he had been having to go to the shop daily to get food because he had no power for the kitchen at home..

Bruce

One of the biggest challenges is getting fuel for the cars.  With the majority of the gas stations closed, the open stations are seeing lines 50 cars long and are running out fuel.  Although temperatures are well above freezing so no worries about freezing pipes in houses.