Hurricane Sandy’s effects here in Western New York consisted of some downed tree limbs from the high winds, minor flooding, and 400 people who lost power. To the east of us, in NYC and New Jersey, it’s a whole different story. Millions of people with no power, no drinking water, subways closed, roads impassable, and massive devastation. Over 50 people are dead because of the storm. As Governor Andrew Cuomo remarked: “These ‘Once Every 100 Year Storms’ are showing up every other year.” Yes, and it will get worse. No politicians are talking about Global Warming–many don’t believe in it (or science). Yet super storms like Sandy are going to be the New Normal. Diane and I have decided to invest in a natural gas generator unit to keep the power on when the inevitable disaster strikes. I’m getting estimates this week and we’ll pick the contractor next week. The photo above is a reminder that politicians of opposite parties can work together.
The loss of life is the most horrible aspect of Sandy. I feel for the families and will be thinking about them.
Here in North Carolina, the Outer Banks got hit. My county is halfway across the state on the Virginia line. All we got was some wind and a bit of rain.
Same here, Randy. We’re 400 miles west of the real damage from Sandy.
As someone who’s experienced a few hurricanes first-hand, my heart goes out to the people affected by Sandy. The storm is just Day One–the cleaning up, the adjusting to the “new normal,” and dealing with both physical and psychological reminders, that’s every day afterwards.
I share your concerns about the aftermath of Sandy, Deb. Dealing with the vast devastation with Winter approaching is going to be challenging.
Btw, that picture above reminds me of what it means to be “presidential”: Christie’s done nothing but talk sh*t about Obama, but when disaster strikes, Obama knows he’s the president of the whole country, not just those who voted for him–as opposed to say, oh I don’t know, a president who would wait three days to even release emergency funds while people waited in rooftops for rescue because the state had a Democratic governor.
And do we really think we’d have the planned, competent response to Sandy that we’ve seen thus far if Mitt “we need to eliminate FEMA” Romney were president?
/Sorry for the rant–it’s early. Dismounting soapbox now!
I guess Chris Christie learned how to flip-flop from Mitt, Deb. Trash-talk one day, praise the POTUS when you need help the next day.
Deb, you should hear the criticism Michael Brown (Yes, “Heckuva job, Brownie”) is leveling against Obama’s relief efforts! These folks really, truly and beyond discussion have no shame!
Some people will do anything to win, Jeff.
Glad to hear you folks didn’t sustain any major damage.
I was very impressed by the Christie/Obama exchange. At least the trash talk stopped long enough to give credit where credit was due. Christie is a big man in more ways than one.
Christie is also a Governor of a state that’s going to need a lot of Federal resources, Beth. Notice the trash-talking stopped when the need for Federal aid started.
Let me know what generator you decide on. Here we have a different set of threats, but we are one block from a huge lake that is shaped like a saucer.
The natural gas generator guys are coming out next week to give us estimates, Patti. I’ll let you know what configuration we decide on.
Great line about politicians not believing in global warming or science! Sad but all too true. I saw one of these Tea Party clowns a couple of weeks ago – I believe the man was a doctor no less – who was carrying on that he didn’t believe any of this BS about the Earth being billions of years old because he knew God created it 4,000 (or was it 6,000?) years ago and nobody was going to make him believe anything different.
This is who is running many of our states and making decisions the rest of us – what I like to think of as the re”sane” segment – have to live with. It’s scary out there.
Congratulations on your continuing efforts to stimulate the economy.
It’s the disbelief (or total ignorance of science) that disturbs me, Jeff. The only way we’re going to fix the messes facing us is with technology.
Christie better get his money now. If his buddy Mitt were in office he’d be told to whistle for it order go begging private businesses who – according to Mitt – are much better equipped than the Federal government to deal with natural disasters. The man is literally without shame and clearly will say anything to get elected.
Another way to look at this, Jeff, is that Christie figures Obama is going to win the Election and he needs a friend in the White House to help him fix New Jersey.
We have a nearby neighbor who had a natural gas generator installed last spring. Not that we have power outages here very often, but occasionally we do, due to wind and a fallen branch. It usually only lasts a few hours, the longest has been a day. Still, he’s conservative and likes gadgets. I’ll call him and ask what kind they got.
Thanks, Rick. We’re in the information gathering stage of our decision process. Any data you can provide will be useful.
We all need friends in high places, George.
So true, Beth.
Christie’s most asinine pronouncements during the storm involved his yelling at the mayor of Atlantic City for not evacuating the city. As if that was even practically possible, the Atlantic City Expressway being one of the first major roadways to flood.
http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/265235-atlantic-city-mayor-accuses-christie-of-double-standard-in-sandy-response
Chris Christie will pay a heavy price for his bi-partisan moment with Obama, Todd. The conservative wing of the Republican party will never forgive him.
Oh, they kinda mostly forgive Romney for RomneyCare. Though the GOP has been busy trying to keep the Libertarians and the Constitution Party off ballots, to try to keep Ron Paul and further right Republicans from choosing people more in line with them. But the GOP is good at getting people to fall in line. I still suspect we’ll see another Obama term, fwiw.
If Romney loses, Todd, watch the hailstorm of criticism that will be directed at him from the Republican Party and the Tea Party. They united behind Romney because of their hatred of Obama and once the Election is over, the civil wars within the parties will begin.
I think both Christie and Bloomberg were at least partly motivated by belief that Obama is going to win. The hurricane was probably the last nail in Romney’s coffin.
Both Christie and Bloomberg want continuing Federal aid, Jeff. They might not get it from Romney if he wins.
If the Dems don’t spend their last campaign funds running split-screen ads showing the FEMA response to Sandy alongside Romney saying that we don’t need FEMA, then they need to hire me as a consultant!
I’d hire you as a political consultant in a heartbeat, Deb! Yes, people need to be reminded that Romney, in the Republican Debates, said he’d like to “privatize” FEMA.
If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring…
If I ruled the world, I would banish cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.