Hurricane Sandy

With you there, ej.

jess, I acknowledge your greater knowledge of water company tactics, but I do feel that you are being unnecessarily pessimistic. I'm not saying things will be easy, but I am saying that the US can fix the problems the storm has brought them. Places like Haiti can't; they just live with the difficulties day in day out ad nauseam. America will see its way out of this fix. I'm glad about that and optimistic. I just wish I could feel the same about the poorer areas of the world where they may lose less because they have less to lose in the first place, but the effect on their lives is longer lasting.

I agree that the media has probably given greater coverage to Sandy as it hits NY and the rest of the US areas.

It is not 'newsworthy' (ie front page / top item) that millions live in dire poverty on a daily basis and struggle to survive because it is ever present.

It is more unusual for NY to be hit in this way so therefore 'newsworthy' Media view will be that hurricanes are expected in Caribbean so not so newsworthy! Crazy world.

I'm sure the US government will respond more quickly, with financial help, to New York than they did to Chicago. Hopefully, that is a lesson learned.

Glad you have heard from them and hope they get their power back soon dorset.
I am sure that the national disaster planning has improved a whole lot since Katrina. It will be a severe test of what Obama has been able to put in place in that regard.
I know in NZ everyone is supposed to have their emergency pack and supplies in the cupboard, in case of earthquakes but a lot of people just don't.
I just worry about the utilities side of things, a lot of which is not controlled by government. It is frail people, maybe living alone in apartments, who will most need help. But Americans are very good at being neighbourly.
I don't see them getting back to business as usual in work for a while though.
Politically the timing is extraordinary isnt it! We can expect media to continue to be enthralled.

Geraldine, they had an item about the Bowery on the news on the World Service during the night. Apparently they have set up a much needed 'coffee stall by torchlight' outside their bar. Don't know if this is the same one as your son was at. Its in Manhattan.

Of course the Americans don't "deserve it".

Yes. Of course. People would have relatives in the US. Though not in Haiti perhaps. Explains a lot.

I expect they were just as worried about you when the UK had severe flooding in recent years.

I hope all your relatives are ok.

I would have thought the meaning of the "no comment" would have been quite clear. It referred to your previous post.

dorsetpennt I agree with your post.

I wasn't referring to the cartoon, but to the pointless 'No Comment' remark.
If being sensitive and compassionate makes me a stuffed shirt, I am happy to accept that epithet.

I've been worried sick about my son, his wife and daughter who live in Manhattan.] Also having lived there have several friends that I am worried about.] Thankfully he was able to post a comment to say they were fine though had no power. So getting in and out of their apartment means trekking up and down long flights of stairs. I was there during a major blackout. We were on the 35th floor of a building and walking down was horrible - I always get shaky knees when descending a lot of stairs. Hopefully FEMA is more on the ball then they were with New Orleans. As for America being so rich they will bounce back is myth. Parts of the US are really suffering, money is tight for everyone. The government is going to be really strapped after this. It's barely 11 years since this city was hit by 9/11 and now this - it breaks my heart. Breezy Point in Queens is such a pretty little place with lots of lovely old wooden houses. Many of these have now gone due to a substation blowing up and setting fire to it all. JO5 how can you say 'milking it'? The BBC etc are reporting this news, remember there are a lot Americans in this country who can't get enough of this news. Some of the comments on this thread are quite nasty - almost as if the Americans deserved it.

Perhaps news items tend to home in on stories that we can relate to; I have to be honest with myself and say that when that happens I feel more for the people involved [eg they showed a woman in a New York hospital that had just given birth and I instantly related to her circumstances and imagined how I would have felt]. Also this is going to have repercussions down the line in many ways that will affect [effect?] us; the economy and the American Presidential election for a start. It doesn't mean that I don't feel for the people in Jamaica and Haiti. Black humour has a time and a place imo so I guess I'm a stuffed shirt in that respect. I would say that an email from a loved one in America showing the Statue of Liberty would have de stressed me enormously, but that's only on a personal level; I don't think it's right on a general level. Each to his own.

I've already said I have a lot of sympathy for the people of New York.

I think the fact that the BBC are now referring to it as "Superstorm Sandy" illustrates my point re the fact that they are milking it. That smacks of journalistic enjoyment.

The "photo" would only offend the most stuffed of the stuffed shirts amongst us.

Absolutely absent.
Bags I have worked for a very good water company, highly regulated (amongst other things the govt insist on them keeping massive warehouses of emergency equipment wrapped in oily rags and ready for a major disaster. This is part of the country's 'civil defence' ) and they have to have very good emergency plans in place and everyone trained in their various roles. With all that in place, and no transport problems, no telecommunication problems, it is still really, really difficult to manage an emergency with a lot of people doing things outside their normal job remit. So do I have faith in a bunch of profit motivated. lightly regulated utility companies. Do I heck. Many areas are only seeing the beginning of their problems.
Haiti is a bottomless pit of horror. In efforts to help with the aftermath of their earthquake UN troops imported cholera. To add to their considerable troubles. It needs a lot more than just emergency disaster relief greatnan.

Many people in New York live in very tall apartment blocks. Lack of electricity is not just a matter of having to use candles and eat cold food out of tins, it means that the lifts won't be working. 34th, 56th floor? Not a lot of fun, especially if you have children or are elderly.

I fully appreciate that people involved in tragic situations (ambulance crews for example) often use 'black' humour to help them cope. I object to people who are warm and safe trivialising a situation for their own amusement.
I believe a great deal of money was sent to help the Haitians and much of it seems to have disappeared - I don't suppose the USA will need financial help but the fact that other people have suffered does not make the plight of the people in New York any better. I am trying to imagine being old, disabled, ill, or with very young children, having no power and no means of transport and it is awful to contemplate.

Have you no faith in American enterprise, jess? They'll manage. Yes, the infrastructure will take a while. They'll manage that too. It will be hard for a while. Millions of people elsewhere in the world live with that level of problem all the time. Perspective.

Sixty-nine dead in the Caribbean. Haiti is in a bad way – and had still not recovered from previous natural horrors – and so too is Jamaica.

I fear the aftermath. Imagine living in an apartment with no electricity or water.
If substations and pumping stations are out of commission on a wide scale they are not going to be fixed in a day or two. Water services seems to be run by a mix of public and private bodies in different areas. They are all going to be, literally, up to their necks trying to deal with their own problems. So there will not be much option on borrowing water engineering staff from adjoining areas. Electricity run by a plethora of private companies under v little regulation. Same issues apply. Obama could ask companies in other states to send people to help, but I don't think he can order them. I guess they will have to get army to send some mechanical and electrical engineers etc. along with troops to deliver water. It is very challenging managing even a smallish water/electricity crisis, involving, say 10,000 people without water and making sure that bowsers or bottled water delivered and he is basically relying on dozens of separate bodies to manage their own patch effectively.

Just heard from friends that their daughter and her family are ok and well having sat it out in complete darkness. Their house in Greenport is still standing minus a few tiles but the fences have blown away which isn't surprising seeing the ferocity of the storm.

Humour is good in stressful situations. It will take a while to clean up the mess in the New Jersey and New York areas, but they have the resources to do it fairly efficiently. There is hardly any mention of the effects in Haiti, where more people have died, and where there are fewer financial resources to deal with the mess. I think Haiti is hit by storms far more often too.

Just trying to keep things in perspective.

whenin64 The hurricane had already been downgraded to a post tropical storm as soon as it hit the land mass and is likely to become weaker.

Should says 'streets are a mess' although stress does apply! iPad tut!

My cousin in Long Island emailed the amusing picture of the Statue of Liberty hiding from the hurricane to me. They are hysterical with relief that it has passed further along, and wanted to reassure us they were safe. They are going out in a few hours to help with cleaning up, and they report that they and their neighbours were lucky to only lose a few roof tiles. The stress are a mess, though.

I hope this dreadful hurricane loses strength now. It's bad enough having blizzard conditions without people's lives being endangered.

It must have been a shocking and terrifying experience for everyone involved.
One of my friends is in the middle of it and I haven't heard from her since Monday afternoon. I do so hope she is ok.