Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Hurricane Sandy

Breezy Point, The Rockaways
As everyone who reads this blog knows, I love the ocean and the beach, especially Rockaway Beach. So I am deeply saddened to hear of the destruction at Breezy Point. At last count, between 80 and 100 houses have burned down as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

New York City will be slow to recover from this storm, especially the low-lying areas by the water: The Rockaways, Red Hook, Coney Island, Battery Park and the Financial District, and the East Village, have suffered extensive damage. Much of the subway is flooded and is estimated to take at least a week to start running even partially. The damage is unprecedented in the system's 100-plus year history.

In a press conference today, Governor Cuomo acknowledged the need to not only repair our infrastructure, but to plan for a new normal of weather patterns that includes hurricanes on what may likely be a regular basis. Unlike other coastal cities that suffer hurricanes, New York has a lot of underground infrastructure. We're going to have to plan for a future unlike anything we could've imagined. We're going to have to learn to prepare, to evacuate, to help each other when storms come, and to understand what living on an archipelago means.

This has been an historic storm. I am lucky to live in Park Slope, where the damage was minimal (we are on the highest point in Brooklyn). The rest of Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island was not so lucky. I send all my thoughts out to them now, especially to the residents of Breezy Point, and will be looking for ways to help in the coming days and weeks.

To everyone affected by this storm, you are in my thoughts. And to the first responders who always make New Yorkers proud during an emergency, thank you.
It is certainly an unusual way to end October, to put it mildly. With all my talk of ghosties and spooky things, there's nothing -- nothing -- more terrifying than nature, or more powerful than the forces of the moon, wind and sea. We are at their mercy, and we are very, very small.

2 comments:

Flicker said...

I'm glad you're OK. The stories of the storm are just unbelievable. I haven't been to NYC in 30 years, but I keep thinking about the subways being flooded. Just mind-blowing. What a way to end October, indeed.

Ajlounyinjurylaw said...

The pictures from that fire are so incredible, my heart and prayers go out to all the families effected.