After Hurricane Sandy... it's Saturday Nov. 3 2012

Almost all of us know somebody from the affected area, at least I can say this being on the East Coast, maybe the further West less so, but most all of us have contacted and looked into how those of our friends and family have fared. There's so much that is lost, so many things of everyday life we cant even comprehend or imagine. And night time is the worst. Imagine London in World War Two and the Blitz, entire neighborhoods piles of rubble, communities homeless, every noise putting you on edge. "Does anybody know were here" the fearful thoughts of the survivors. Rumors of relief coming, at least the next burg over had some relief come in. Scant food, nearly no water, filthy and in need of a shower, Children in tow, some infants, woman dealing with their cycles and no toiletries, once pets roaming the streets looking in desperation for their owners, hungry, afraid. The elderly near incapable of fending for themselves in the best of times, now reduced to complete dependency. The prospect that aid might arrive soon........ but when....? and a forlorn feeling of despair.

Can we even imagine the scene...... LINK. This Guy has a pretty good grasp on what's going on.

www.databasepublish.com...

People from elsewhere wanting to donate some way....... but how.
The Red Cross has a little spot on your windows front page for donating.... should you punch that? Well remember the scandal some time back where the people in charge at the top making six figure salaries while running the organization, and pennies on the dollar actually getting to the people? Where else then if you want ALL your donation to work for relief? I don't have that answer, honestly, I'm ill prepared for some of the logistics. Thankfully friends with more skill than I possess are taking care of that, while I handle physical stuff. And at sixty one, I'm a bit slower....but still able. My neighbor an X New Yorker from the 'Island' is coordinating, she better knows where and how to get it done and were letting her take charge.

A week, a month, two months from now, there will still be wreckage, there will still be those in Dire need of relief, winter will be in earnest. Many will have filtered out to live with friends of family, or even strangers willing to house and share with them for now.
Rats that they didn't even know they had, uprooted from their lairs underground, dieing, dead or roaming, the perfect breeding ground for disease like the Black Plague.... yea really... the plague once again threatening life.
A city of eight million..... how many needing medical attention daily, or medications daily like dialysis, diabetics, coumadin patients, children with ADHD, the list much longer.

You may ask what am I doing if I'm here asking for others to help? Our church has put together a BBQ like we do every year, only the date has been pushed up, and using the proceeds this year for 'Sandy victims', which usually brings in 7-8 thousand dollars. I'm disabled and older, but Myself and two others have prepped and done maintenance to the grills and will cook upwards of 750 pounds of pork and about a hundred pounds of chicken, and all the fixins. It will be a busy all nighter, my arthritis will be hounding my hips, I won't be walking tomorrow, and I'll be cold for the most part, but no complaints, I know where its going and it makes it all the more bearable

Imagine no basic necessities, like just being able to use a toilet or a sink let alone bathing or showering ..... remember, some only escaped with the clothes the were wearing.
Days, weeks yet before they will be finding any measurable help.
Jobs gone, cars gone, homes gone, and in the dead of winter. At least Katrina was in a much warmer climate despite the destruction, but this is SO much different, so much more life threatening.

Hurricane season is not over remember, and with the recent changes in normal weather who knows how the weather will modify itself and time frames change. Sometimes preparedness is not enough, but for now it makes all the sense in the world. What other calamities await America before spring arrives.....?

Good post, S&F. I don't think we will have to wait until Spring. This calamity in NY/NJ is spiraling out of control. Right now, its been less than 4 and a 1/2 days since Sandy made landfall and look how bad it is. In another day or so NYC will wake up to a horror story the MSM wont be able to ignore any longer. That friends, will show major instability in the heart of global finance. Everyone, worldwide, will wind up effected by Superstorm Sandy.

Take a lesson from all those folks in desperate need in NY&NJ, stock up while you can afford to. Get ready..

I am sorry for the situation you are in sir.

My sister is stuck in Brooklyn, I am thousands of miles away. I haven't heard from many friends yet. Family is together and ok for the most part. Everyone I talk to tells me it is much worse than what the news is portraying. Everyone is at a loss, words cannot describe the situation of some areas.

I get mad when people compare it to Katrina. This has affected several states, millions of people, and is happening in winter. GOD! it makes me mad.

Power is coming back on, but what good does that do the homeless? They will open roads sooner or later, but where do you go if your place of work is destroyed, local shops are closed, or destroyed, looted, or just ruined?

I have heard every sort of heartless and cold response from Europeans I live around making fun of American houses for being made of wood...yeah. To people from all over the world thinking it is well deserved. I have also seen the warm and reassuring words of people from all over giving compassion and encouragement.

I don't know what will come of NY and the other areas affected. Time will tell, but I know this. With or without help, we will persevere. We are a resilient bunch, and like someone on this forum put it, We are "hardcore badasses of the tenth degree". or something like that, I thought it was funny.

I know we can get through this stronger than ever. I just hope we do not lose too much in the process.

Good luck to you sir,

My prayers and thoughts are with you all.

head up, Hold it down.

reply to post by manykapao


I have seen "rub it in replies" from Europeans as well, not that the EU is in much better shape lol.. yet I digress. The rest of the world is not going "Oh poooor US of A" No, no. We deserve what we have coming. Blaming our government is unfair, despite they're campaigns to brainwash us in mass for the passed 100+ years, we let them do it!

The blood of the US is that of people who fought for theyre liberties, they fought for theyre freedom, they would not be oppressed. When was the last time you saw average US citizens of that mentality by and large though? During the 60's maybe?

The same media that vigorously covered Katrina seems to be ignoring this one.

hmmmmm, could it be we want to make POTUS look good (or rather avoid making him look bad) right before the big election.

Those poor people. It is much worse than being reported on the msm.

The truth is out there but not easy to find.

reply to post by kawika


I've noticed this too, but I don't think it's to make the POTUS look good (he is campaigning in Nevada right now ).

I think it's because the ensuing panic would collapse what is left of the economy. The financial district is running on a generator, after all. So long as the corridor between DC and NYC is crippled that's $10 Billion the economy does not generate per day.

Add in the property damage and the fact that reconstruction will come to grinding halt once Winter settles in (and will probably cause more damage with infrastructure exposed to freezing temperatures), we're looking at what is possibly a $100 Billion storm.

But wait, there's more! People will be cutting back on their Christmas purchases to replace the things that aren't covered by insurance, plus the family budget cuts that happen when an emergency strikes. If Black Friday is a dud round the big box retailers will not be hiring more staff for the Christmas rush. The economy stalls even more.

How does this story end? I don't know.

On October 29, 1929 the US entered the Great Depression. On October 29, 2012 Sandy hit.

reply to post by GreenGlassDoor


Verizon Article

The building is one of the worst hit of a number of facilities that carriers were rushing to fix Wednesday. The Federal Communications Commission said the number of cellphone tower outages dropped on the second day after the storm made landfall, with just over a fifth of the sites in storm-affected areas in the Northeast offline, down from about a quarter on Tuesday.

My friend used to work for V. THey need 50000 circuit boards to fix the flooded switches, no one can supply that many in a short time.

Same as the electric grid. One big solar flare and we are living in the 1800's again...

I am new here so be gentle...I know that there is a new storm rolling in to torture our people even more. And this tears me up inside. I'm a mother and a grandmother now. and it hurts to see people suffering. But I also know that there is something else coming. Something bigger than Sandy. It does my heart good to see so many people talking on this web site about how they CAN and WILL survive. Some of the ideas sound solid. I know many will survive. BUT many more will not. Maybe not even me, who knows? I don't know what it is that is coming our way , but it's so close I can almost taste it. May God protect us all.