70 Trillion people affected, 13 Bajillion dollars in damage, Hurricane Sandy and media hype

You all would not be joking about "hype" if you would take a look at all of the flooding and damage "already" caused by this storm that is just getting started. Or if you were right now sitting here scared to death listening to the wind howling and wonder which of these trees will still be here in the morning and which way they will fall, and listening to the windows rattling wondering if they will hold up. Or if you were worried about your loved ones who live close to streams and rivers that have been flooding today - in this storm that is just getting started, and wondering what will be left tomorrow. Or if you know that 1.5 million already don't have power, as your power is flickering, and you were already told by the power company that it could be a week or more until they get to fixing the power everywhere.

As for the "hype" - my only comfort, and I'm sure of many more, is that I listened to the warnings and prepared. I have food, water, heat, and other emergency supplies, so if the worst happens, maybe we will be fine. If people instead listened to all of YOUR hype, and thought - oh I would be dumb to prepare the MSM is just messing with us - then where would we be? These are the type of people who did not evacuate and are now risking the lives of emergency people trying to pluck them from flooded areas. And the people who have your point of view are going to be the ones with hungry children when the power is out for days, stores are closed, and they have nothing. Or they will be freezing because they ignored the warnings that snow could be part of this, and they did not prepare.

So - please think about what you are really saying, and what it REALLY means.

Being an ex Floridian and a hurricane survivor, I have witnessed the bad, the hype and everything inbetween. It certainly made preparing the better option when it comes down to what ifs, empty stores, stress, lack of supplies...

Actually a lot of the news hyped even cat. ones... tropical storms at time, a lot of those times the storm cleared without damage or loss. However, an ounce of prevention goes a long way, so can a tip, comment, news, warning that someone in need could benefit from, may save their life or others lives. That is the most important thing.

Ehh, im sitting here in NYC still waiting for the "most dangerous storm of our lives", , if you had to live through hurricane gilbert, you would scoff at this baby, if your close to the coast of course your gonna get flooded out, i think ill go roll up some homegrown and watch the wind beat these trees silly. F that evacuation noise.

The damage done will be severe , the loss of life will be small. But just look how many towns are already under water. Sandy hasn't even come ashore yet in force. Personally i don't think its been hyped.

Watching CNN there having trouble just reporting what is going on.

Originally posted by randomname
i agree.

i was just watching cnn and i almost vomited at the over hype of its "reporters".

they are more focused on complaining about citizens walking about their daily routine and ruining their "dramatic" end of world shots, than reporting the storm.

it was so pathetic it was bordering on really bad acting.

one shot had this reporter screaming into her mic about these super dangerous conditions while the camera panned to about 4 inch waves while a jogger in shorts ran by.

it was laughable. and it seems that they are actually getting mad that people aren't obeying their commands and warnings to stay inside.

cnn is trying its hardest to manipulate reality by filming in empty parking lots and getting upset when a car rolls by contradicting their b.s.

this is the free world. prime example of media manipulation and instilling fear and panic into the population by not reporting the facts and the tone of it's "reporters".

and an exercise in obedience. you're officially done. you are no longer free to think or act on your own. you must obey.

I agree and am glad to see that I am not the only one to see this.
I watched Jim Cantore at The Battery wondering if the water which barely had a whitecap had risen an inch or two when a guy pulls up on a jet ski! It was awesome. This after they were talking about where the wind was.
It was fairly calm, lots of people walking around ruining the hype of just an afternoon in NY of drizzle and a slight breeze. It was freakin ridiculous.

Then that DA Al Roker was standing in front of a green screen carrying on. There they are all bundled up for a monsoon and it wasn't even raining.
Not to worry. For the next visit with ole Al, they used a garden hose fed through a gutter to pour water down.
It looked really dramatic, let me tell you. The problem was, it still wasn't raining.

But, I understand a lot of people are without power. Go figure.

Originally posted by prometheus2033
Ehh, im sitting here in NYC still waiting for the "most dangerous storm of our lives",

, if you had to live through hurricane gilbert, you would scoff at this baby, if your close to the coast of course your gonna get flooded out, i think ill go roll up some homegrown and watch the wind beat these trees silly. F that evacuation noise.

I hope you are safe in NYC. I hear NYC is feeling the storm in a big way right now.

reply to post by beezzer


Your math is wrong.



~Tenth

I just want to say i worry for you all my colonial cousins, it's no hype when lives are at stake
be it the elderly, the young, the vulnerable, wildlife etc..

How much hype is too much when lives are involved?You can give folks all the facts you have and they still wont listen. Ever watch the last moment evacs of Hatteras?Roads clogged,folks out of gas.Years ago in Florida cops went door to door to get the Ride it Out people to leave.Their last resort was to produce a magic marker and ask the Ride it Out to write their name on their bellies. Easier to ID the bodies. Some left. Right now there are about 3500 people on the island of Chincoteague,cut off,without power,and sitting out the night in knee deep water,or worse. I'm not sure because Chincoteague.com on facebook seems to have gone dark.The local radio station WCTG was dark the last time I looked. I dont know how the media in your home work but here in DC many of the TV stations seem to be be expending a lot of resources with very few commercial breaks. By the way,the normal off season population of Chincoteague is 4000+-.

How much hype is too much when lives are involved?You can give folks all the facts you have and they still wont listen. Ever watch the last moment evacs of Hatteras?Roads clogged,folks out of gas.Years ago in Florida cops went door to door to get the Ride it Out people to leave.Their last resort was to produce a magic marker and ask the Ride it Out to write their name on their bellies. Easier to ID the bodies. Some left. Right now there are about 3500 people on the island of Chincoteague,cut off,without power,and sitting out the night in knee deep water,or worse. I'm not sure because Chincoteague.com on facebook seems to have gone dark.The local radio station WCTG was dark the last time I looked. I dont know how the media in your home work but here in DC many of the TV stations seem to be be expending a lot of resources with very few commercial breaks. By the way,the normal off season population of Chincoteague is 4000+-.

All hype huh? I live 200 miles north of Toronto and we are getting 40 MPH wind gusts which we simply do not get this far inland. Hell we don't even get tornados.

I know people in Toronto who say they've never seen anything like This

The new York stock exchange is under 3 feet of water and an explosion has rendered half the city without power.

All hype? The death toll is already fairly high and the damage in the tens of billions.

Get real.

Well, I guess the storm followed the track of the weathermen. I see the Media did not blow it out of proportion. After it turned towards shore it was evident it was going to hit as predicted.

reply to post by metaldemon2000

not quite ... both are false reports.
NYSE being 3ft underwater has been corrected as a false report.
there is a report of an explosion at ConEd, however, power was turned down earlier as a precaution.

could we at least let the msm cover the hype ?
they're much better at it.

I am really worried about some of you please stay safe i feel for you all my wishes
are with you all.To those who think this is just hype you are wrong this is serious stuff.

Huffing puffing and blowing houses down is bad but flooding is just as bad too.

Keep in touch if you can, i can't sleep in uk i am not going anywhere im with you all.

reply to post by beezzer


Hello beezze I hope it's ok to copy and post a few of my thoughts about this from a thread that was closed. It's almost midnight here in PITTSBURGH, and still just the drizzling. No wind. EVERYTHING is closed, called off, and canceled for tomorrow; Some have been since 2 o'clock this afternoon. So I guess there is more to come right? Who knows, the weather actors just might have it right this time

I agree. They are REALLY shoving the severity of this storm down our throats. I don't get into all the weather conspiracy usually, but I have defiantly been thinking about it w/ regards to Sandy.

ETA: If this storm turns out to be nothing out of the norm I won't be surprised, but I will be upset. Not about it not being a bad storm, I'm sick of the crying wolf. That's why you end up with large numbers of people (when they should evacuate) ignoring warnings and then suffering the consequences! People hear the same BS and when it's an actual event, they don't believe it!!

I have watched a lot of tv and weather reports in my day, and I was almost terrified myself today. It was the language they were using. They made it seem like this is going to be it for the east coast...they said every zing word and phrase except 'biblical proportions'....I don't think anyone can deny that it's a really bad storm, and things are being destroyed...and unfortunately, loss of life. It very well still may be and we have it all wrong, but i sure hope not.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Beezz, you're normally a sensible guy but this time I have to wonder what you're thinking. I'm just as jaded by the media as anyone here but if you watch the weather as I do and pay attention to the reports coming in then you would know this storm isn't playing around.

If it "hyped" that sure is better than leading folks to believe they will be fine when they're actually in the path of destruction bearing down on them.

Do I trust the MSM? No -
But in this case they have no reason to lie, in fact it helps their credibility to accurately predict what is coming.

If this is "Storm-aggedon" then I will be the first to apologise.

As stated in my OP, it is a bad storm. Stay safe, use common sense.

But like I also previousy stated, Americans have weathered storms before.

The build-up, the media, has created a virtual storm that dwarfs the actual storm.

But again, if the eastern seaboard is under 11 feet of water, I'll back off of my assertion that the media hyped the story.

reply to post by beezzer


Well Beez......


Our infrastructure is broken. Any type of storm, or Disaster from God, has implications for that not so normal person, who doesn't prepare, or knows how to prepare. I think half the East Coast is part of that crowd.... What will they do, when they cant get their latte or plug in their iPhone?

Yes, the media hypes it, but just remember how unprepared people were with Katrina. How bad the infrastructure really was.

Just saying.

S&F

reply to post by beezzer

Just a note here, but this has already established itself as the lowest pressure storm in the history of New Jersey state and we have at least 2 medical centers with partial patient evacuations. I'm seeing water pouring unchecked lie waterfalls into the WTC site, below street level...so I can imagine the subways aren't happy places either. Sea water.....train rails...all kinds of metal things. Sounds bad to me. I just posted a youtube of a serious explosion at the Con-Edison plant at E-14th and the FDR that could be seen from across the water. Another member caught it here...so I passed it on at the other site I work at.

By all reports and accounts, this sucker is no drill. Is it a Camille or Andrew? Of course not...but those storms hit states that are in a state of perpetual readiness because they get bad ones on a fairly regular basis. This one is hitting an area that hasn't seen a bad one like this in long enough to where it appears city leaders and Pols actually thought one wouldn't come. How else to explain all the cascading failures of backup power and those who DO have it...measuring it in mere hours? Umm.. Wow.. Short sighted, eh???

NATURE may not make this a catastrophe, but man sure is making up in a lack of planning, what nature may fall short for raw power, IMO.

Its a very over hype. Okay look at it this way. There are 50million people suppose to be affected. We will wait and see how many are diss placed. Then lets take the recent flood where I live in Minot ND and with 32k people here over 2k displaced. I will be looking at the numbers here and see how they handle it. I know they say its terrible and what not, but is it any worse then other things that happen in this country. Its a Natural disaster. Lets see displacement numbers and see a percent. Ive seen whats happened it will reside and # will be fixed fast in them high $$$$ areas.