Posted by brynb on October 31, 2012, at 21:03:12
In reply to Re: Batten down the hatches east coasters!!, posted by Willful on October 31, 2012, at 18:45:38
> It's funny how different people's experiences are!
>
> I also am in NYC and I hardly knew anything had happened.
>
> Of course when you watched tv and went to the news websites you realized that that flooding was fairly destructive-- and if you live downtown, below 39th St, it must still be quite awful, because there's no electricity, cellphone service, or heat. And of course there were a lot of branches blown off trees and other things like that. The worst of it was the fire in Queens and the explosion at the ConEd substation; also NYU Medical Center lost power and their back-up generators didn't go on, necessitating carrying patients down unlit staircases and into ambulances to be transferred to other hospitals.
>
> I've heard that subway service, which was suspended, will begin tomorrow in earnest above about 39th St. (I'm in a higher part of the city)-- below which ConEd has turned off all power--. Bus service began again today-- and of course there are cabs. But the parts of the system that have been damaged will take a long time to repair-- which shows that any city can be vulnerable to an unexpectedly severe weather system.
>
> It remains to be seen what, if anything, will be done to try to prevent future floods.
>Hi Willful,
So true! I'm uptown, so like you, I didn't really see/feel the damage. It just felt like a really windy, rainy night. But for those downtown, it was a totally different story. And yes, the hospital situation was horrible.
I always think these storms are a lot of media hype, but when you watch the coverage, it's truly amazing how much destruction and subsequent issues it brought. I feel fortunate to have dodged the bullet.
As far as preventing future floods, it seems like we're becoming more aware and ideally prepared to deal with the damage based on the recent cycles of storms we've had. I hope.
poster:brynb
thread:1030109
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20120929/msgs/1030420.html