53 replies to this topic

[BklnScott]

One of the piers in Seaside Heights and portions of the boardwalk are gone.  Roller coaster sitting crumpled in the surf.  

I'm looking for pics/video of the situation in Point Pleasant Beach, where I spent a lot of summers growing up.  If anyone comes across anything, please do link it.  I assume the devastation is on a similar scale to what we're seeing in AC and Seaside.

[Tricia]

Not sure how helpful this is, Scott, but it comes from the Point Pleasant Patch which I'm guessing is a website for the local paper?

http://pointpleasant...#photo-11958320

Might be more of the same you've seen but they have a link for people to upload their pics so maybe more later?

Edited by Tricia, 30 October 2012 - 01:15 PM.

[BklnScott]

Thanks.  Yeah, I've seen those pics -- Those are of Seaside, which is utterly devastated.  I'm sure the damage is similar in Point Pleasant, which is about 30 minutes north of there.  

I actually was there for Hurricane Charlie in 1987... I think it was 87.  It wasn't a direct hit, though, and there ended up being little damage.  

Meanwhile, Michael "heckuva job" Brown has come out and criticized the Obama Administration's response as "too quick."  http://thinkprogress...-sandy/  This is NOT from The Onion.  

I can't believe he even has the temerity to open his mouth on the subject, let alone to criticize anyone else's response to a hurricane.

[Raeven]

Glad you are all safe...so sad to see so much devastation though

[Nonny]

BklnScott, on 30 October 2012 - 01:31 PM, said:

Meanwhile, Michael "heckuva job" Brown has come out and criticized the Obama Administration's response as "too quick."  http://thinkprogress...-sandy/  This is NOT from The Onion.  

I can't believe he even has the temerity to open his mouth on the subject, let alone to criticize anyone else's response to a hurricane.

Sour grapes much, Brownie?    

[sierraleone]

Sci-Fi Girl, on 30 October 2012 - 02:39 AM, said:

For the record, Sandy is a superstorm because of a collision of multiple events.  As the hurricane comes up the east coast, an early snowstorm comes in from the west, and an arctic blast moves in from the north.  Plus, there is a high pressure area out to sea, pushing Sandy inland so all these elements are combining to cover the whole northeast.

Sandy is a whopping 1,000 miles across.  The edges of a hurricane, inland, usually get the rain but not the wind.  But by the sheer size of this storm, the winds came far inland, and with not too much rain.  There were gusts over 60 mph deep in the mountains.  Still less than NYC and the coast, which I think got at least 100 mph, but still unusual.

Oh yeah, and there was snow in West Virginia!  

SFG

Sandy made landfall around 8pm Monday, near Atlantic NJ, to my understanding. And 1.5 hrs later, we had a black out from the winds for 4 - 5 hours.
I am far inland from the ocean (though I am next door to the great lake Ontario). Toronto, about 630 km, or 400 miles, from Atlantic NJ, (further than I) was hit worse with winds.

We had about 54 km/h (34 mph) winds at our worse, and Toronto had 65 km/h (40 mph) winds.
Even further, 780 km/485 miles from Atlantic NJ, was Sarnia ON, on lake Huron, got 74 km/h (46 mph) winds.
Though all basically tropical storm strength, no hurricane strength, it does demonstrate how large the storm was, this was all within 4 hours of landfall, and according to the maps Sandy's center hadn't even gotten thru the 110km/70 miles of the breadth of NJ.

Luckily we did not get the snow that West Virginia got, too warm for that *here*, it has been raining most of today.

[RJDiogenes]

What terrible devastation-- homes, hospitals, landmarks.  Lots of heroism out there, too, though. The casualties were thankfully low, considering the damage. I'm happy to hear that everyone here has so far reported in okay.

Boston got off lightly. I'm sure it was worse on the South Shore and it was definitely worse down the Cape, but we never lost power or cable here.  It got a little scary about 9pm last night or so, but, aside from a few branches down and the sand coming up over the wall down at the beach, there's not much to report here.

It's going to take a while for New York and New Jersey to recover from this, though.  

[Cardie]

Scott, NBC News's Ron allen reported from Point Pleasant Beach throughout their storm coverage but I can't find specific links on the NBC.com page. It didn't look good. The beach essentially flew up on the land and there is sand mixed with debris every where.

[Darkside_1]

The effects of the storm up here in Toronto left some parts of the city (towards the west end) without power as the winds uprooted some trees and so far, sadly only 1 person (a woman) was killed from the storm by a piece of a billboard sign for Staples/Business Depot out in the neighborhood of Keele Street and St. Clair West in the central west area of North York, Ontario (a suburb within Toronto north-north west of the downtown core).  The victim succumbed to her injuries at the scene from what I heard on the local news and weather service.

As for me, my neighborhood was not affected with power outages, although last night I prepared for power loss was having my bathtub filled for emergency use to flush the toilet with a bucket as the city water pressure in my area goes as high as around the 6 to 7th floor in high rise buildings.  I am on the 13th floor and my pressure is serviced by booster pumps, so if I lose hydro, I also lose water.  I have candles and flashlights and a hand crank generated radio/light on hand and I also kept my window blinds open to take advantage of natural ambient light from the night sky.

Weather wise, mostly a lot of wind with some gusts and light rain activity and cloud cover.  It hasn't affected my commute to/from work in any way whatsoever.

[BklnScott]

Cardie, on 30 October 2012 - 10:43 PM, said:

Scott, NBC News's Ron allen reported from Point Pleasant Beach throughout their storm coverage but I can't find specific links on the NBC.com page. It didn't look good. The beach essentially flew up on the land and there is sand mixed with debris every where.

I found some video and pics of the town... boats in the middle of the street... and some houses that were just gone in Bay Head and Mantoloking (which are the two adjacent towns down the coast).  Haven't seen the Boardwalk and beach area yet, but I am assuming that it's just gone.  It's very upsetting.  

I don't know what we're gonna do about the subway.  What's the point of fixing it if this is gonna keep happening?  I don't see the money or the political will necesarry to harden the subway to withstand this sort of thing appearing any time soon.  We can't even get cell service down there!  Or air conditioning in the stations.  But the city can't function without it.

[Nonny]

I'd  like to see this good idea spread widely.

[Nonny]

http://www.huffingto..._n_2044455.html
Claudene Christian Dead: HMS Bounty Crew Member Found Unresponsive In Atlantic Ocean

Quote

A woman who once called Southern California home lost her life at sea during Hurricane Sandy.
Claudene Christian, 42, was a crew member on the HMS bounty, a replica of an 18th century ship. Christian was found unresponsive in the ocean off the North Carolina coast Monday evening, one of two crew members that had gone missing when the Bounty began taking on water.
Aunt Patricia Saulsberry told KFSM news that Christian was believed to be in the water for nine or 10 hours before rescuers got to her. She was wearing a life jacket and an ocean survival suit when she was found, reports LA Weekly. Rescuers tried to administer CPR, but they were unsuccessful. Christian was taken to Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth City, North Carolina and pronounced dead, reports Reuters.
The Bounty left New London, Conn. Oct. 25 and was headed to St. Petersburg, Fla. when it got caught up in the storm Sunday near North Carolina. The ship's generators failed and the vessel began taking on water, and later on that evening the crew both sent out and eventually rescinded a distress call to the Coast Guard at 6:30 p.m., reports the Los Angeles Times.
Christian's mother, also named Claudene, told ABC News that she thinks the distress call was rescinded because the crew wanted to save the ship...


Christian claimed a unique connection to the Bounty. On her Facebook profile, she wrote that she was a descendent of Fletcher Christian -- a crew member of the original HMS Bounty who helped seize control of the ship and led a mutiny in 1789.
The rebellion was depicted in multiple "Mutiny On The Bounty" films, and the HMS Bounty that sunk Sunday was in fact constructed for the 1962 film. It has also been used in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films...

[offworlder]

^ I still canna believe that ship dint head into port a day and 1/2 before Sandy came on up Hattaras way; I read a quote in press, 'believed could go wide and avoid the storm', - I mean really, even without satnav or geo super sat modern sensory equip who would sail without at least fm tuned to CG weather and notices, alerts, and modern com like vms, or small digital radio tel, something- and get thee into Newport news or somewhere and wait it out- but it's sad yes that crew went into the drink , I saw the foundering photos of the ship all awash- it could have been a safer trip.

[BklnScott]

Which is basically the plot of The Perfect Storm: they thought they could go wide and skirt the worst of it.

[Nonny]

http://www.huffingto..._n_2067337.html

Marathon cancelled, story developing....

[Mary Rose]

Fred and I came through it all right, thankfully.  We didn't even lose power, unlike last year with Hurricane Irene.  But the Connecticut shoreline was hit hard.  Lots of places that haven't even recovered from Irene yet and than another hurricane hits.  Houses gone, others so badly damaged they can't be salvaged.

[cl05]

Nonny, on 02 November 2012 - 04:46 PM, said:

http://www.huffingto..._n_2067337.html

Marathon cancelled, story developing....

He should have cancelled the marathon long before now. Right after the hurricane would have been the right thing to do. I feel bad for the runners who had to travel to NYC for the race. The only reason he cancelled now was because of the bad PR he was getting.

[Nonny]

cl05, on 03 November 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

Nonny, on 02 November 2012 - 04:46 PM, said:

http://www.huffingto..._n_2067337.html

Marathon cancelled, story developing....

He should have cancelled the marathon long before now. Right after the hurricane would have been the right thing to do.

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that it was an honest mistake, not realizing the keeping the marathon after 9/11 may have been morale boosting, but there weren't millions of wet, shivering people huddling in the dark, the wet and the cold in need of so much physical support.  At least he gave in.

Quote

I feel bad for the runners who had to travel to NYC for the race.

I wonder if they realized just how bad the situation was before they left.  It couldn't have been good for them to be there, later to realize how much had been taken from people in serious need on their behalf.

Quote

The only reason he cancelled now was because of the bad PR he was getting.

So it's a good thing he pays attention to PR.  The bad PR was truly deserved.

I'm listening to NPR about this, will find the link: http://www.npr.org/2...-cancel-earlier
Marathon Runners Wonder, Why Not Cancel Earlier?

Quote

...Hundreds of those runners watched the press conference live on televisions screens at the Jacobs Javits Center, where they had gone to pick up their race numbers. It was like a United Nations of disappointment. Gabriel Dini had just flown in from Italy.

"We would have understood if it had been cancelled at the beginning. Now, calling it off after everyone got here? This is not really the best idea," he said.
Malcolm Gatenby was eager to share his disgruntlement — he also came straight from the airport.
"I've just flown in from Dubai, 17 hours. I've flow in now. It's gonna cost me roughly $6,000," he said.
Most people who spoke with NPR agreed with the decision to cancel the race, but they did not like the way it was handled.
"If they would've just canceled it in the beginning, rather than waiting till everybody's here and then doing it ... that's what angers everybody," said Terry Fritz, who had flown in from Washington State for the marathon.
Manhattan resident Brett Goldman agreed that perhaps the city should have cancelled the race as soon as the extent of damage from Sandy was apparent....

Edited by Nonny, 03 November 2012 - 10:21 AM.

[Tricia]

One of the Houston newsanchors said about this morning that there often is what she calls an 'awareness delay' when it comes to things like this...

Basically until they see how bad it really is, government officials etc on all levels aren't always really aware of how bad it is. Especially if they don't live where there was really much damage or effect as other locations

The marathon should have been cancelled much earlier than it was, for sure.  At the very least, they could have postponed it indefinitely until other plans could be made. People understand in that case...not what amounts to practically a last minute cancellation and since it came after ABC News and several other media discovvered the tent with the generators and water and vodka etc....it makes it look like it only happened because of bad PR

Edited by Tricia, 03 November 2012 - 11:26 AM.

[BklnScott]

Well, Bloomberg does actually live here.  It's clear that he understood the magnitude of the damage.  

I think it's just that he reflexively announced the marathon would still happen very early on, and like any politician he then felt wedded to that position.  I'm glad he changed his mind, though, especially because it would be like pissing on every Staten Islander to have the race... which starts in Staten, a place that was hit especially hard -- as hard as Hoboken and Jersey City -- but has gotten very little attention and less help.   Over half the casualties in NYC occurred on SI, and some of the worst, most heartbreaking stories hail from there -- like the child who was swept away from her mother and drowned in the flood.

Most of the people on SI are without power, and may remain without for a long time.  They are isolated geographically and they are running out of gas and even food -- the same as on Long Island, where I grew up.  And it's COLD.  A lot of people without power are also without heat and hot water.

http://www.nytimes.c...nhattan.html?hp

Quote

The New York region, where many residents remained without basic essentials, like food and shelter, made fitful progress on Saturday in its efforts to recover.

Power returned to hundreds of thousands of customers, with nearly all of Manhattan back to having electricity. The parks reopened, the main port in the city was working again and millions of gallons of gasoline was expected to start flowing to gas stations that had run dry.

But outside Manhattan, in the hardest hit neighborhoods of Queens and Staten Island as well as along the Jersey Shore and on Long Island, it was just the latest day to struggle through, working to both recover and rebuild after the storm.

More than 100 people in the United State died as a result of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the East Coast on Monday.

Here's a piece of great news, though:

Quote

Along with the power coming on for more residents, Mr. Cuomo said that 80 percent of the subway service had been restored and that Manhattan had been reconnected by subway to Queens and Brooklyn.

That happened much faster than initial estimates.  MTA! MTA! MTA!  (We can go back to cursing them tomorrow.)