Superstorm Sandy

[Sumpter250]

If it were me, I'd have bound and gagged the mayor and stuck him in a basement until power was restored..

I really do not know if I could have been that nice.

Mr Mayor, maybe YOU should have had a better plan !
"Money Talks" - - - and it says; " Let Them Eat Cake "
:oops: :o :oops: maybe I should have said "soggy" cake..
The true test, in the end, will be how quickly and efficiently communities can come together and help each other through the recovery process. It is going to take more than a couple of days, and it won't be fun until it is finished.
Been there,
Pete
   
If you follow the line of the railing on the top of the concrete block wall, to the left, there's a white wall, with two windows, and no support under it. Hurricane Carol ( 1954 ) took out the foundation ! The concrete block wall which was in front of our summer cottage, was taken shortly after this picture was shot. That wall was our last defense against the storm. Fortunately, the storm passed before the cottage, and all of us, would have gone into the bay.
There was 18" of "ground" left in front of the front wall of our cottage........then a drop of about seven feet. Had there been another 30 minutes of hurricane, there would not be a sumpter250 here, now.
I was 11, and I still remember carrying 100 pound bags of mortar mix,and an unremembered number of concrete blocks, down the 26 wood steps, from the parking area, to rebuild, and fortify a new wall, in the days after the storm passed.

[ezdays]

I really do not know if I could have been that nice.

Mr Mayor, maybe YOU should have had a better plan !
"Money Talks" - - - and it says; " Let Them Eat Cake "
:oops: :o :oops: maybe I should have said "soggy" cake..
The true test, in the end, will be how quickly and efficiently communities can come together and help each other through the recovery process. It is going to take more than a couple of days, and it won't be fun until it is finished.
Been there,
Pete

Ya know, it just occurred to me that food would be hard to come by back there, and here these people are throwing eggs at the workers. Oh, I get it, without power they have no way of cooking the eggs, so rather than waste them, they use them as paintballs. :oops:

...Had there been another 30 minutes of hurricane, there would not be a sumpter250 here, now.
I was 11, and I still remember carrying 100 pound bags of mortar mix,and an unremembered number of concrete blocks, down the 26 wood steps, from the parking area, to rebuild, and fortify a new wall, in the days after the storm passed.

That's quite a story Pete, most folks try to recover and get things back to normal quickly. Starting to rebuild the next day is one way to keep your sanity.

[faraway]

I did see the runners for the NYC marathon arriving at the JFK airport yesterday morning. I did read at the same time about many people that live in homes without power seeking hotel rooms for a warm bed and a hot meal. I felt it a strange situation and had serious concerns about the selfishness of the runners coming to NYC under that circumstances.
It is wise to cancel the marathon. Those selfish people are complaining now about the late cancellation not understanding that the trip to NYC was their very own fault.

[ezdays]

I did see the runners for the NYC marathon arriving at the JFK airport yesterday morning. I did read at the same time about many people that live in homes without power seeking hotel rooms for a warm bed and a hot meal. I felt it a strange situation and had serious concerns about the selfishness of the runners coming to NYC under that circumstances.
It is wise to cancel the marathon. Those selfish people are complaining now about the late cancellation not understanding that the trip to NYC was their very own fault.

I would not go into NYC, NJ or any other area hit by Sandy unless I was there to help. That was my point with all the TV reporters being there. If I were a runner arriving, I'd say, "the heck with the race, what can I do to help? After all, I'm in top condition and can shovel dirt, hand out water and food or muck out the subway if need be." They can run the marathon anytime weather permits, they cannot delay restoring normalcy to the areas. It's not like Bloomberg to bend to public pressure, so my hat's off to those to drilled some sense into his head. There's no doubt that he's looking ahead to the next city election.

[Charlie B]

Don, that was very well stated and really makes a lot of sense.
I would never have thought about news people taking up needed hotel space.
I always wonder why every station thinks they need to send their own IDIOT to the area to stand outside in 100 mile per hour winds and tell everyone else to stay away. These people take valuable resources from law enforcement and rescue to look this way. I think when evacuation has been ordered they need to be cited. This is not a matter of free speech or freedom of the press. They can say anything they want from the safety of some remote studio. Now they are hampering the clean up crews trying to get interviews.
I suppose when one of them is decapitated live on air that the stations will insist on a congressional investigation of some government agency for not specifically warning them of the dangers.
Charlie

[tomustang]

Charlie it's all about the ratings.

Meanwhile we get to hear about generator thefts, fights at gas pumps, people throwing their rotten food at utility workers cause they can't work at the speed of light.

[ezdays]

And then there's things like this, people sent there to help, and get turned away because they won't sign a document saying that they are all union workers. I remember the earthquake in Los Angeles, where a construction company jumped in to work on a highway bridge the next day and without a contract, just to bypass the red tape and get things back to normal. I guess NJ is not a "right-to-work" state and put that ahead of getting the work that is needed done.

Despite devastation and millions of power outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a utility crew from Alabama said it has been unable to help a ravaged New Jersey shore town due to a union dispute.

Officials from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers presented Alabama-based Decatur Utilities with documents that “required our folks to affiliate with the union,” Ray Hardin, general manager of Decatur, told FOX Business on Friday. “That was something that we could not agree to. It was our understanding and still is that it was a requirement for us to work in that area.”

Hardin said most of his six-man, four-vehicle crew was stuck in Virginia on Thursday instead of helping the N.J. shore town of Seaside Heights recover due to the bureaucratic tie-up. Eventually his crew ended up heading back home to Alabama because of the disagreement.

Read more: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/government/2012/11/02/union-red-tape-in-nj-causes-alabama-recovery-crew-to-head-home/#ixzz2BG1lmLoL">http://www.foxbusiness.com/government/2 ... z2BG1lmLoL</a><!-- m -->

[Mike Kieran]

I did see the runners for the NYC marathon arriving at the JFK airport yesterday morning. I did read at the same time about many people that live in homes without power seeking hotel rooms for a warm bed and a hot meal. I felt it a strange situation and had serious concerns about the selfishness of the runners coming to NYC under that circumstances.
It is wise to cancel the marathon. Those selfish people are complaining now about the late cancellation not understanding that the trip to NYC was their very own fault.

I would not go into NYC, NJ or any other area hit by Sandy unless I was there to help. That was my point with all the TV reporters being there. If I were a runner arriving, I'd say, "the heck with the race, what can I do to help? After all, I'm in top condition and can shovel dirt, hand out water and food or muck out the subway if need be." They can run the marathon anytime weather permits, they cannot delay restoring normalcy to the areas. It's not like Bloomberg to bend to public pressure, so my hat's off to those to drilled some sense into his head. There's no doubt that he's looking ahead to the next city election.

The marathon was cancelled. Some of the runners are going to disaster areas where elderly have trouble being evacuated or are low priority evacuations and using their running skills to bring food to those that can't get out.

As far as the news crews, I am in wholeheartedly in agreement. I was at Barclays center which became a transit hub between subways, LIRR, and buses going into the city.
If anything, merge the news agencies and crews who would each go to an affected area to show damage, thereby helping to assess damage.

[ezdays]

I'm glad to see that the runners are doing something more than complaining about the marathon not being canceled earlier. Our local TV station interviewed on runner from here and she was complaining that it cost her $1,000 to travel and not be able to run. She said she was going anyway and that she would just go shopping instead. I guess it's good that she intends to help the economy, but it would be better if she just decided to help, period.

[teejay]

Good to hear that memebers have come through this with no physical harm . We were fortunate around here in that high winds and rain didn't really damage anything that I could see . No flooding here .

T

[e-paw]

Just now got my Internet, phone and cable TV back up. Still running off generator for power, have no idea when power is coming back on. lots of trees down and no sign of a truck from the power co. yet. hope Every one else is safe and warm. It's getting cold out there.

A couple pics from my aria.

[Ralph]

Sobering photos, e-paw!

[e-paw]

My dad, toptrain, is ok now. They got power back on the other day. I didn't post this pick right away but here is a neighbors home damaged from a tree that fell on it during the storm.


Here is the power plant in jersey city right after the storm, it is completely shut down. No power can be produced there at the time i took the pic, don't know if it is up and running yet.

Here I am sitting in a gas line for 5 hours trying to fill up the co. truck so i can get to work restoring power.
but instead i got this close then they ran out of gas.
That was time i could have spent weiring up a generator for someone. It's getting hard to get anything done at our shop, can't get gas for the trucks, most supply houses are closed because of storm damage so you can't get any materials for the jobs, roads are closed every where so you cant to the jobs to get power up for people. We are doing every thing we can to restore power where we can, but the it's like working with one hand tied behind your back.. On top of that the local utilities are no help either, They are so overwhelmed they don't know what to do. there lots a scams going around with companies renting non working generators to people, try to get them on the phone for help. We will keep on pushing forward and get as much done as we can before the nor'easter comes in in a few days.

[ezdays]

I am truly moved every time I see more photos, even more so than Katrina. Not that Katrina wasn't worse and that I didn't care, but maybe it's because I spent the first 18 years of my life in New Jersey, spent a lot of time in NCY and had relatives in Pennsylvania, that it affects me more.

Thanks for the photos, it gives us a real-life look that many TV reporters miss. They're too busy with the more sensational shots and overlook things like these.

[faraway]

I did assume the authorities would intervene more powerful. e.g. technicians from the army could join cicil engineering to get power lines repaired. They could also supply fuel for that very reason. The national guard could help removing trees etc. I am astound how little government forces are on the streets or they are not visible to me.