First off, I should note that I’m fine, we’re fine, in Albany. 150 miles north of New York City, we got a little wind and a little rain, but nothing substantial. They closed our public schools in the city for two days due to an abundance of caution; the new superintendent is from New Jersey and I think she was taking her lead from the mayor, who had proclaimed a state of emergency for a day or more.
And because it wasn’t a big weather event HERE, I’ve heard people calling it a “dud”, that they were “cheated”, which frankly ENRAGED me. (I referred to such people as “idiots” on Facebook; maybe I should stay off Facebook. Someone else called them “callous douchebags”, which I suppose is worse.) I wonder if it’s the result of the infotainment quality of big weather event reportage, alluded to by both Cheri and Mark Evanier?
My ire, though, was predicated by the very real devastation the storm brought to a whole lot of OTHER people, starting in Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica, then much of New Jersey, Connecticut, and southern New York State, specifically NYC and Long Island. Over 80 dead, at least 33 in the US:
Millions without power
Oyster Creek, New Jersey on “Alert” as Sandy Threatens Nuclear Facilities
NYC flights still grounded by Sandy, and major train disruption as well. LaGuardia airport, in particular, is a mess.
One of my best friends wrote on Tuesday morning: “NYC and the surrounding area are a mess. The transit authority said this was the most devastating storm in the city’s history… The seven subway tubes underneath the East River connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn are Queens are flooded. The subway stations in lower Manhattan are flooded. Depots in all 5 boroughs where trains and buses were parked are underwater… This is the worst storm recorded in the city’s history. A buoy in NY harbor recorded a wave of 32.5 feet, the highest ever recorded. Seawalls in Queens and New Jersey recorded the ocean surging over 13 feet, the highest ever recorded. The creek did rise.”
Meanwhile, in the theater of the absurd, George W. Bush’s FEMA Director During Katrina Criticizes Obama For Responding To Sandy Too Quickly. As opposed to Michael Brown’s more…casual pace in dealing with the 2005 disaster. Also, some anti-gay preacher blamed Hurricane Sandy on “homosexuality and marriage equality”; these clowns seem to pop up every disaster. They should go send money to the American Red Cross, and, as another friend of mine used to say, “zip their traps.”
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What to do after a hurricane – US-specific, though some useful messages about preparation for all.
I am pleased to know that you and yours stayed safe.
First let me say you must be living in the right place at the right time and dodged the bullet.
When ever there’s a power outage and my area is not affected I pop an email to the power company thanking them for their good service. And now on most occasions when it does go out here they have it back up within an hour. Sugar works better at catching flies than criticism. 😉
There were people all over Facebook making jokes about the storm because it didn’t hit us hard hundreds of miles inland; meanwhile people were dead or dying, sick, in need of help, or lost everything. Seems to be either a lack of empathy or a weird selfish need for attention…and a bit of idiocy. Were they really hoping a tree dropped on their house or someone they knew drowned just so they could talk about it?
Some people are DUDs themselves. They want to be among those who are affected?
It’s a shame, those people are just stupid idiots, I wish they would once experience a hurrican and that their houses and cars blow around their stupid heads and that they loose family, friends, and all their belongings. Then I want to hear them ! It’s better to be too careful then not enough !
glad you are ok….I was thinking of you during the storm time.
Roger, I feel your pain. The crackpots who blame natural disasters on normal, taxpaying fellow Americans? Just because they are gay? What the hell is THAT all about?
Many married women in America have to endure the same practice as “bottom” gay men anyway. At least, that’s what my girlfriends say. Me, I call it “redundant.” Anyway, the people who are bitching that they were “cheated” should be sent down to help clean up the mess. The first responders did a great job, and FEMA is finally functional again after Bush’s debacle.
Say, why didn’t the Republicans trot out their heroic former president at the convention, anyway? I mean, we brought out Clinton, and he’d been impeached over the Monica business!@!
Politically yours, as always, Amy
I know it’s politically incorrect to say this, but it’s becoming clear that Sandy has had a worse effect on lower Manhattan than the attacks of Nine Eleven.
Somehow I don’t consider 80+ people dead and more than 4 million people still without power a “dud.” Sandy was unique in that the hurricane linked up with two other cold fronts. I’m glad there wasn’t any more damage, but there are a lot of people still in the dark and cold. Not good.
The take-aways from Sandy are sobering, the experts said. Communities in coastal states should factor in serious weather events and their consequences as they build or rebuild, although the economics of adapting to a changing climate may seem overwhelming.
First, I’m glad you guys were safely out of the path of the real trouble. Secondly, while I do have friends on facebook who annoy me with stupidity of all sorts, I’m glad to see that there is a level of stupidity they have not yet reached. I can’t believe anyone would feel “cheated” when a disaster does not come their way. Maybe it’s because around here we see nature’s fury every year (no hurricanes for us, but tornadoes), and everyone I know feels blessed when the storm is less than what was anticipated.
I have a sister-in-law who lives in Seaside Park, NJ, and she hasn’t yet been able to return home, so she doesn’t even know if she has a home to return to. There are lots of ways to describe Sandy, but I’m pretty sure “dud” isn’t one of them.