Hurricane Sandy

Yes it is, indeed, the same hurricane. Glad to hear your family is safe dorset. I am sure we are all full of compassion for those who have lost their homes, or have been temporarily displaced from them, not to mention those who have lost family members.
As I said earlier it will be difficult and painful process getting NY, NJ etc back up and running, and poor people will suffer the most, what ever country they live in. Real pain in the backside if you can't get to work or it takes you hours. Much bigger one if you were already struggling to survive (whether in NY or Haiti) and your few, uninsured possessions, and your home, are washed away.

Absolutely absentgrana.

Hurricane Sandy went through the Caribbean before making landfall in the eastern USA, so mentioning it is relevant dorsetpent.

There are plenty of peopler ill-wishing Americans and some who will regard any devastation and death from the superstorm that it became as poetic justice. I am not one of them.

jO5 Poor woman too.

No.

Did I mention your name?

It is ridiculous to say that anyone on here thinks the Americans deserve it. Why on earth would anyone feel that?

If you mean me, I have criticised the Bbc's sensationalist coverage of it. That's all.

Two little boys swept from their mother's arms. Aged two and four.

Poor little boys.

Heard from a friend there, as the subways are out people are queuing for the bus -some queues stretching down the block. She saw a line for petrol that went on for 17 blocks!
Could I ask that we stop talking about Haiti on this thread please!! They suffered horribly and still do - their infrastructure simply doesn't exist. However, this is about the US this time If you want to talk about Haiti, or the Japanese tsunami, the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand or even 9/11 open another thread. This is about hurricane Sandy. I find the 'wandering off' into other non-related items very annoying and frustrating. Also there are one or two on this thread who I think feel that NY deserves this - you know who you are. Would it help to tell you my son is British born as are a lot of New Yorkers?

Sky news has shown the devastation in Haiti quite a bit over the last couple of days.

I'm quite sure that nobody wishes any harm to the Americans, but it does seem that all the attention is being focused on them and the plight of Haiti has been overlooked.

my son in is America on business at moment, south of Washington, bit worried got one text said ok just very wet there!!

surely no one would wish harm on Americans, my father was born in New York, Manhatten, and can only feel for the poor people caught up in this hurricane aftermath.

Can anyone explain to me why the folk at the stock exchange, applaud - in spite of the economy being in deep doodah?

Granny 23 - I was no annoyed at all, just upset about those poor people out there, and it seemed a bit unfair to talk about our infrastructure minor hiccups just then. Apologies back if my post appeared abrupt.

And the stock exchange. So all's well with some people's world.

BBC is reporting that half the subways are now open again.

Have heard from family and friends in NY. All without power, subways not working, fallen debris everywhere - but all safe. My son lives in a high rise in Manhattan, they have to climb up and down stairs which is very difficult for their 5 year old. So they have checked into a hotel - whose prices have increased naturally.
So upset to see the devestation on Fire Island. A great summer place for New Yorkers, we spent many happy moments there. It appears to be cut in half and apparently the waves just tore right through it. The holiday homes on the island are a source of income for many people who rent them out for large amounts in the summer. I can't see much of a season next summer, hopefully they will be able to get this place back to its former beauty.

Sorry, if I have annoyed you Granjura. I do not have any problems, trivial or otherwise right now, but was responding to JessM's first post infrastructure over there, like the electrity grid, is not good in the states because it is not regulated and the companies tend to do the minimum. and subsequent posts at 8.32, 9.05 and 10.16.

I intended my post to fit into the 'lessons to be learned' category, not to belittle in any way the dreadful events in the US and further afield. Again sorry for upset caused. I assure you no offence was intended.

Geraldine - quite right too! Makes the world go round, that stuff.

I am glad that most of you with friends and relatives out there have now heard from them - it must have been very worrying when the satellite networks were all down. There were long queues for payphones - most people had never used one.
It does make one realise how much we depend on technology and how fragile our hold on the earth really is.
There will be people who profiteer, just as they did in WW2. No doubt there will be some looting. In general, though, the Americans seem to be helping each other wherever possible.

Just heard from my friend too. They are coming back on the Queen Mary and managed to get on board early. The Captain said it would be "touch and go" getting away!
She said it was "hair raising" but now they are calmer seas and having fun!

Just got news by e-mail from my cousin in Central New Jersey. They have no electricity or heating and can't venture out - lots of broken trees in their garden, but none hit the house, fortunately. Their children and grand-children are safe too. Her beautiful holiday home on the NJ shore has been washed away - it had a wonderful position on the Ocean, but in the end, it was its demise. She is very philosophical about it - and says better her holiday home than other people' main and only home. Good for her. She also told me that my cousin who lives in lower Manhattan was on holiday in Arizona when it hit- and is staying with another cousin in Prescott.

Bo news from our friends in Virginia, or my other cousin in Montreal.

Our daughter in Tenerife says they are having awful weather, torrential rain and high winds- and are busy pumping the store room with all their stock in the cellar. Everything is closed.

Granny 23, I am sorry you are having problems. But ... please, open another thread for this. Many of us are worried sick about friends and relatives, and all those people suffering at the Sandy's hands - no comparison, really. Sorry.

Sorry if a bit off topic, but relevant I think.

Yesterday, we were discussing the reason why our road has been dug up 5 times over the past 2 years and came to the conclusion that it was due to a lack of liaison between the various utility companies. In the 'good old days' of nationalised industries and direct works departments within Councils there was a formal set-up for ensuring co-ordination between the agencies. Locally, the lead body was the electricity board, who held the network maps, were responsible for upating them and had a dedicated liaison officer, who was a friend of ours. I imagine that this arrangement was duplicated nationwide.

The Liaison Officer held regular meetings with the Utility Suppliers, Councils and Police and was charged with ensuring that any pending upgrades were scheduled together such that if say, the Gas Board, was due to install supply pipes in an area, the other utilities would take the opportunity to undertake repairs or any work they had planned in the same area, utilising the same trenches etc. The roads department would then make good the road surface in one go rather than the never ending patching that we suffer nowadays.

With privatisation and the use of outside contractors by Councils, this sort of co-operation has vanished and you can almost guarantee that whenever any ulility company digs up the road, we will lose not only that utility but at least one other, as diggers crash willy nilly through pipes and cables. Any vestige of the ethic of providing essential services has been surrendered to the pursuit of profit at all costs.

We'll see bags I hope you are right. But they have not had a whole lot of time to turn things around since Katrina. None of us could believe how desperate that was. There is a fundamental philosophical conflict between "central planning" and "let the market handle it". On the left you have a government that plans and controls everything - and of course charges high taxes to pay for it. On the right, let the market rip and let the devil take the hindmost. Low taxes and "freedom" are the most important principles.
I think we have not done too bad a job of this here - as long as regulators do their work. But in recent years governments in this countries have drifted right. But many Americans view any kind of regulation or restriction a complete antithesis of the American way of life.