I am 33 years old and have never seen anything that approaches the craziness in the aftermath of Sandy. Now, this is not a comparison to other natural disasters; clearly there have been, and will be, more destructive events. I have heard of gas lines from the late 70’s, but in my lifetime, nothing. Still, there is a madness in the air. Drive down a local street in a quiet neighborhood, and you see a fixed line that stretches for miles. Those brave seekers of the holy grail, waiting for their turn at the pump.
Honestly, I don’t get it, and mentioned this in my latest write-up, there is a lack of organization in the wake of Sandy. This should have been predictable, work should be closed. Awareness of an emerging gas crisis should have come sooner. President Obama, to his credit, spoke about steps to discuss the nations vulnerabilities to natural disasters, but honestly that’s an easy call when people are suffering. Where is the vision, where are the keepers of the nation who are responsible for devising the way for our nation’s safety. The debates were rife with talk of guns and defense, and yet these sort of events resent a greater threat. I did not hear about energy independence. There was a time we called for a chicken in every pot, where is the call for a solar panel on every roof? There are dozens of reasons for the nation to make this its number one priority; we will all wait and see how long the memory of the nation lasts.
People are getting testy around here; nothing throws people off more than breaking their routine, and a taste of post apocalyptic America. It’s hard to adapt, it takes people time, but hopefully they will work on learning to do so quicker. Here is hoping people have the good sense to stay home, drive back and forth to the grocery store, save your gas, and wait for the cavalry to arrive. I have lived in New York my whole life, I am not holding my breath.
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It’s all about the basics– there really should be a better plan for delvering necessary supplies when infrastructure is damaged. Some people think I’m joking when I say my prep for Sandy was making sure I had plenty of ammo and my shotguns were cleaned up and loaded.. hopefully it won’t get to that point for New York!! (or hear, though we were luckily spared).
The Great Depression, gas rationing, prohibition, other natural disasters and war have brought on similar behavior which is unfortunate. I agree that staying home is the best option and well, walk, ride a bicycle, etc. if one must. Materialism at it’s worst!
People should be coming together and help one another-no strings attached-focus on basics and yes the state governments and federal governments should have been better prepared. Besides nine-eleven, NYC has been spared on many levels throughout its history from catastrophies.
Work & schools should be closed to allow for people to assist one another besides the fact that it is safer to be at home. Less people ‘out and about’ means it is easier for clean-up.
It’s an unfortunate ugliness, that is for sure…
Instead of reading about the negatives of the Hurricane, I would love to read about some positives. Examples of people helping people, communities coming together. The news already focuses on the negative-not too often that the news focuses on the positive!
This really speaks volumes of our transportation problems on Long Island. They never developed a mass transit system out here, so if you don’t own a car you’re up a creek without a paddle. I sew News12 telling people to use the LIRR but that doesn’t really work out if you are living and working on the Island. The LIRR was designed to get Long Islanders to and from the City, not to help them navigate LI.
I also think we need to do what one NJ legislator was proposing in that state, which is pass a bill mandating gas stations to have generators. They do this in Florida so that after a major storm hits stations can pump as soon as fuel deliverers come through.