Hurricane #Sandy - Live coverage by ATS members

Staten Island has been called the "forgotten borough." FEMA sent only a handful of people. The gas stations are empty, fights are breaking out. Everyone is worried about being trapped on the island. Power is still out in many houses. There is looting. Sirens of one sort or another are going off all day/night. There was a major oil spill. Many houses burned down (unrelated to the spill).

The trains don't work. Few buses are running (for the above reasons), and the tolls on bridges are in talks of going up to $15 for crossing it.

The grocery stores are out of most food, now. Canned items are nearly gone. All meat is gone. Produce (vegetables) are rotting due to the power (freezers/fridges) being out for days. Red Cross has been little help. There are no water bottles to be found in the stores.

The area's population is scared, angry, very fragile in every way, and supplies are running out. Many ancient cities fell apart for these very same lack-of-resource and sustainability problems. Lol, anyone want to send me a few bucks? Prices around here... You'd think the store owners would display concern and help others but instead, they are price gouging.

reply to post by SoulVisions


I would send you anything I could if I thought it would get there.

The best I can do for now is send my prayers. I know they don't seem like much, but hopefully they help.

www.nbcnewyork.com...#!/on-air/as-seen-on/Sandy-Starved-New-Yorkers-Dumpster-Dive/176839571

Old people, families and children digging through dumpsters. No water for many, and no debit or electronic cards accepted, and not much food.

How long does one survive without water and why aren't the emergency people delivering water jugs to every affected neighborhood.

And provisions?

thank you all for keeping up with me on this! you have all been helping me understand this scenario in a way more broad sense than i would have ever known had i not joined. i'd like to bring up something i've been noticing these past 2 days.

since after the storm, and mind you i'm pretty much in zone 3, my lights have still been flickering. today i had a pretty significant wave of flickering bulbs, followed by cops and sirens. something tells me that con ed is having problems maintaining the damage caused by all the blown transformers and such. i could be wrong, but it's pretty much a good 72 hours since any significant storm activity. i've VERY luckily had power the whole time, but have been experiencing flickering lights ever since the power started going out. i might be reading too much into this, but it seems like there's still some electrical hemorrhaging being dealt with, if that makes any sense.

and STILL no word on when the subways will even start commuting between the burroughs! it's like nobody including me can grasp how crazy that is. the subways are the lifesblood of this city's intercommunication and economical stability. seriously, if the subways don't start opening up by next week, we're going to have problems. i don't know if i mentioned that the national guard has already stepped in to calm the gas problem, but that's already happening too.

reply to post by facedye


From what I gathered from various news articles and tv programs is that the subways won't be back up and running for quite some time.. they are still pumping water out of them and after that they are going to have to repair all the water damage... it didn't sound like they were going to have it going anytime soon

reply to post by facedye

if the subways don't start opening up by next week, we're going to have problems.

I am just an observer from the other side of the world. after seeing the pictures and the destruction, I can not see how the subway will be back up in months. It will take months to fix this.

i figured that's what the case is going to come down to, but people are hopeful that the subway system will return piece by piece.

unfortunately, i'm thinking that the reality is going to be something more along the lines of what you guys n gals are pointing out here. it really seems like nothing significant will happen for months. i hope that's not true though. i can't see a situation like this being manageable past the second week. at the same time, i can't even begin to imagine how long it would take and how costly it would be to check & fix the corrosion and water damage in this HUGE subway system.

man... i really never thought i'd find myself being one step away from fleeing the city because of something like this. honestly, without some sort of federal assistance, the immediate future seems ridiculously uncertain. i have close relations with people who work in the mayor's office, and some of them haven't been to work since last week. there's just no way to get there. it's getting to a point where either the transportation systems have to create some kind of detour routes to get people as close to their general destinations as possible, or a whole lot of people are going to have to quickly find new means of sustaining themselves. as insane as that is to say, it definitely seems like new york is running out of options.

i hope you are all pulling through this as painlessly as possible!

The storm was no ordinary storm, but a massive superstorm to hit infrastructures badly, and will take months to repair.

So, how are humans affected going to live meanwhile?

Let us not forget the roots of our human survival.Where were trains, internet, electricity, clean water, jobs, food, shelters during the times of our ancestors?They had to be found, and certainly did not drop from the sky.

Fortunately today, we live in civilised societies. The govt will take care of its people, but it cannot take care of all at the same time. Thus those citizens should open up homes and food, to share, to take care of one another. The rest of the nation can donate food and kind to the affected to keep them going during those months.

Teachers can set up makeshift schools for kids needing education. Temporary soup kitchens can be set up at churches, mosques and temples nearby affected zones.

Those affected who have no jobs yet can offer to help with the clean up, so too housewives with children placed at temporary childcare centres so that minds do not remain idle to relive the horrors of the superstorm.

Without buses and cars, bicycles can be the next best transport.

These are but only a small contribution from the insignificant nobody me on how we can overcome odds and adversities. I am sure many more will have better ones. Sitting down and moaning will only destroys us as frustrations and anger mounts over issues that man have no control over, or over the efforts of others who face far surmounting odds to save the state and nation.

reply to post by magma


the majority of service was restored yesterday so now everyone can get around NYC with service stopping around 39th street.

They expect to have most power restored by tomorrow and, once they get the power back downtown, the subway should be close behind.

What's scary is the lack of food in the city. Most shelves are still empty.

Originally posted by Doodle19815
Buckle up for the bumpy ride! This model is showing another storm coming through Nov. 6th.

I pray for all of the people going through this.

Another storm on November 6th? Good grief! I can't help but feel like someone 'up there' is trying to derail the election!

reply to post by childsplay72


They are delivering food and water to people who can't get out of buildings because the elevators are down.

Emergency workers go help the most vulnerable populations first. The people diving in dumpsters have much better chances then people trapped in apartments who can't get out.

reply to post by TheOtter


Oh! lol looked like she was giving the finger.

Folks it is going to get cold! I do not believe they are wrong with the forecast of weather in the 20's. It is going to get real cold. Things are going to freeze. Candles provide heat, everyone closed off in one room (body heat), sleeping in a tent inside your house (traps body heat). As they work to get everything up and running, the cold will strain the grid which cause power failures. We have blackouts during heat waves, same goes for the cold especially with a system that has just been beaten. if you are in that area, I would start thinking now.

reply to post by AuntB


Oh crap...

if we don't get power restored here by the time the storm gets here a lot of people around here are going to suffer. myself included.

I am at my office downtown and we have power here, but my part of town has been w/o power since 9:30PM monday night.

this is going to ssuuuuucccckkkk!

If you have pets make sure they sleep with you. The heat they generate can warm the whole bed. I know I sometimes get too hot with them even though it's cold out.

A lost little boy was found safe in the woods because there were puppies that kept him warm.

I just went out to pick up some beer. while waiting on line to get some $$$ from the ATM, I overheard people about to lose it.

a woman on her cell phone was complaining about how she has had no power or access to her money for the whole week and cant get food.

other people are at the bars (Pretty packed this time of the season) with their bags, almost like if they are camping. (Possible flooded out?)

people from all walks of life are outside... looking up wonder what the sky is. (that one was a joke)

i'd give you guys more examples but compared to how people were 3 days ago, it would take me forever.

On another note (Signs of snapping.) a group has/is organizing a protest at city hall complaining about not having power for the whole week and want answers onto why its taking this long. they see that wall st got bailed out (pun intended) of the power crisis, but the people here are left in the dark. (again pun intended.)

I don't blame them... however, if something doesn't change soon or the people who need help dont get it, I think were going to see a riot here.

I am receiving reports from friends (some of whom are NYPD officers) that over 50 bodies have been found on Staten Island beaches ... I am not even talking about on the island itself, these were people that were washed away by the storm surge, the homeless in the subway stations and Zone A in lower Manhattan, etc.

I am also hearing that Mayor Bloomberg would not allow the New York Army National Guard to be deployed within New York City because he "does not want anyone with guns on the streets besides the NYPD".

There seems to be very little aid for Staten Island, Gerritsen Beach, City Island, Breezy Point, etc.

Also we are getting very little from FEMA here on Long Island ... I think they have 1 little outpost set up. We only have 1 refueling station from the Army in Freeport - none elsewhere on Long Island.

Anyone want live coverage? Here is what people are doing in New York city right now in order to get gasoline.

Here is a live stream video of people right now lining up for gasoline at a gas station.

Gas station live stream

Originally posted by ChrisF231

I am also hearing that Mayor Bloomberg would not allow the New York Army National Guard to be deployed within New York City because he "does not want anyone with guns on the streets besides the NYPD".

they didn't need to be deployed but, nonetheless, that comment is not true because there are two machine gun toting national guard members outside the LIRR entrance.

Originally posted by ChrisF231
I am receiving reports from friends (some of whom are NYPD officers) that over 50 bodies have been found on Staten Island beaches ... I am not even talking about on the island itself, these were people that were washed away by the storm surge, the homeless in the subway stations and Zone A in lower Manhattan, etc.

I am also hearing that Mayor Bloomberg would not allow the New York Army National Guard to be deployed within New York City because he "does not want anyone with guns on the streets besides the NYPD".

There seems to be very little aid for Staten Island, Gerritsen Beach, City Island, Breezy Point, etc.

Also we are getting very little from FEMA here on Long Island ... I think they have 1 little outpost set up. We only have 1 refueling station from the Army in Freeport - none elsewhere on Long Island.

edit on 3-11-2012 by ChrisF231 because: (no reason given)

Is being reported, Geraldo Rivera's show tonight, will be from Stanton Island. Covering what is really going on there.

Des