Thursday, November 1, 2012

An Update from Brooklyn, Post-Sandy


I’ll start my post-Hurricane Sandy blog post by assuring my readers that we weathered the storm safely at home. Our neighborhood in Brooklyn is in “Zone C,” which the city designates as an area that would only be evacuated if a category 3 or 4 storm rolled through. Our apartment is located near the geographic center of Brooklyn, nearly equidistant from all the borough’s waterfronts. So, we’re well away from the areas that were hit by flooding and the storm surge.

During the worst of the storm, our power flickered a bit, and it actually went totally black for a few seconds, only to come back on again. We also lost our Internet connection briefly, but it also came back up within a few minutes. That was rather amazing, since we’ve had longer power and Internet outages caused by much milder thunderstorms. We were extremely lucky, and we know it.

Now that the storm has passed, our biggest obstacle is our location in Brooklyn’s geographic center. Many of the subway lines near us haven’t been restored yet or are only running piecemeal. So, if we wanted to get into Manhattan (where Jen’s employer is located), we’d either need to take the subway to a bus transfer point and catch the shuttle into Manhattan or take the subway to a bridge and walk into Manhattan. Plenty of people are doing exactly that, and I admire them for it. Fortunately, Jen can work from home and is spared that process. (The New York Times has a great blog rolling here with stories about the lines for buses, the impromptu carpooling, and the gas shortages.)

 As that blog shows, this storm has brought out the best in many New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. Some examples include folks randomly starting carpools to cross the bridges, a house in Hoboken that ran extension cords and surge protectors outside so neighbors without power could recharge cell phones, and the residents of the East Side who helped carry patients out of NYU’s Langone Medical Center during the storm when its power and backup power sources failed. Truly, disasters can bring out the best in people.

Sadly, though, storms can also bring out the worst. We’ve learned that the death toll from the city continues to rise, with 38 people killed in NYC’s five boroughs (as of 5:00 pm on 11/01/12). Most of those deaths were on Staten Island, where children and the elderly make up a large number of those killed. Many of the storm’s victims were in the areas that should have been evacuated. We haven’t heard why the elderly victims weren’t evacuated, but I surmise they may not have had assistance to leave.

When I hear about the youngest victims of the storm, I’m filled with both rage and sorrow. In one case, a 13-year-old girl was found only a short distance from her home. Her parents ignored the evacuation order because their home didn’t suffer any effects from Irene in August 2011. In addition, one of their neighbors said the family came home from the Irene evacuation to find that the house had been burglarized. So, the girl’s parents decided to ride out the storm at home. Her mother is in the hospital, while her father is still missing.

Another woman lost her two sons, both under the age of four, when their SUV stalled in the floodwaters. She tried carrying them to safety, but they were pulled away from her in the storm. They had tried to stay home until water started coming in, and then attempted to flee during the brunt of the storm.

While I know it’s probably not fair to second-guess the decisions of these parents now, I find it hard to resist doing exactly that. I just can’t fathom placing a child in jeopardy. It’s one thing if an adult wants to make a foolish decision and suffers the consequences of that choice. But children shouldn’t be placed in harm’s way because an adult is too stubborn or foolish to evacuate when a storm is approaching.

Back to the good from the storm, since that’s where I want to keep my focus. The storm also brought out some neighborly feeling, even among those of us who were minimally affected by the storm. The area where Jen and I live has a very large Hasidic Jewish population, along with a lot of Pakistani and Russian immigrants. Usually, our Jewish neighbors won’t talk to us since we’re clearly Gentiles. The other groups also don’t talk to us much for similar reasons. But following the storm, we were walking around the neighborhood to see how bad the damage in the area might be. During our walk, the neighbors we encountered asked how we were. I’m sure we’ll all go back to our usual distance when life returns to normal, but the storm briefly broke down the barriers between us. I’m grateful for that.  

I’m sure the coming days and weeks will bring out more stories of both heroism and heartache from the storm. I don’t want this blog to become nothing but a recounting of Sandy’s affects on the city; however, I’m sure I’ll discuss it again when a particularly compelling story catches my eye.

To all those who weathered the storm and are now in the rebuilding process, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

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