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Subscribe to RSSAs New York slowly comes back to life, it's electrical power that divides the haves and have-nots. Gridlock also remains a concern, but subway service is slowly beginning to resume and the New York Marathon is still slated to go forward. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
From the devastated New Jersey shore to eerily empty lower Manhattan, tens of millions of Americans lived through Sandy's fury and were trying to come to grips with its destruction as the storm waters slowly receded.
The impact of the storm was virtually without parallel in the densely populated tristate region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with its destructive winds, heavy flooding and raging fires. Farther afield, powerful gusts felled trees and knocked out power for up to 8.2 million residents across the eastern United States, while heavy snow made travel treacherous at higher elevations. Nationwide at least 47 were confirmed dead of storm-related causes.
"This was literally the storm of our lifetime," said Longport, N.J., Mayor Nick Russo, as he surveyed the damage on debris-littered streets of his Atlantic coast town Tuesday. "No one has seen this type of damage, not even in the 1962 storm. The amount of sand, wood and concrete that has actually come up from the streets — it's not a good scene."
Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.
Two hundred miles to the north in Mastic Beach, N.Y., Donna Vollaro, 53, covered her face with her hands and sobbed as she walked through her ranch-style home, which had been inundated by several feet of water.
The water had receded by Tuesday afternoon but left the Long Island house filled with mud. Everything inside destroyed.
"My bed was floating around in three feet of water. The floors are buckled. The walls are caved in. Everything I own is gone," she said.
Vollaro, who is disabled and unemployed, has no homeowner's insurance and said she recently spent her savings on renovating the home. Inside, the refrigerator lay on its side, the couch was soaked and the boiler was destroyed.
"Now I have nowhere to go. Just the clothes on my back. That's what I have," she said.
TODAY's Natalie Morales reports from Mantoloking, N.J., where an aerial view of the region shows fires burning and sand completely overtaking neighborhoods.
'Like a tsunami'
On New York's Coney Island, Mordechai Deutscher recalled watching floodwaters burst through the glass front doors of the Mermaid Manor Home for Adults, about two blocks from the famed boardwalk. Residents had been evacuated to upper floors.
"Everything was fine and dandy yesterday until high tide," said Deutscher, 58, administrator of the home. "All of a sudden within five minutes it was like a tsunami."
Sal and Lori Novello rode out the storm in their Long Island home, with candles providing the only light and a wind-up radio their connection to the outside world. Sal Novello, 50, said when water started rushing into their 5,000-square-foot Dutch colonial, "it sounded like Niagara Falls." They ended up with seven feet of water in the basement.
NBC's Lester Holt reports from New Jersey, where the eye of Superstorm Sandy came ashore, ripping apart the coastline and leaving millions without power. President Obama is expected to tour the area Wednesday with Governor Christie.
"They kind of warned us, and everybody knew it was coming," said Novello, a construction executive who lives in n Lindenhurst, N.Y. "Unfortunately it was everything they said it was."
Ken Pagliarulo, a 34-year-old computer consultant in Lindenhurst, watched from his window Monday night as a house burned to the ground. Water filled his living room and totaled his car in the garage. He shut down the power, shut down the gas and ran generators for electricity.
"Insane," he said.
In Washington, D.C., as Sandy made landfall, Russ Kelley had two bad options: stay inside after a giant oak fell on his roof or dash outside where massive winds whipped three downed — and live — power lines not far from his front door.
TODAY's Al Roker tours Atlantic City, N.J., with Mayor Lorenzo Langford, who re-addressed his feud about hurricane preparedness with Governor Chris Christie and laid out a plan to rebuild the city's iconic boardwalk that was torn apart by the storm.
Jason Decrow / AP
Firefighters work at the scene of a house fire in in Lindenhurst, New York, Monday.
"Here's the thing — the fire department advised us all to come out of our row houses because of this tree lying on top. But then there's this hurricane outside with 60 mile-per-hour gusts, still pouring rain, a couple of live wires down in the street and another live wire out in my yard," said Kelley.
"It seemed just safer to be in my house, tree and all," he said.
So Kelley brushed aside the wet oak limbs and took his dog, Clinton, back into the living room — just below the fallen, 60-foot tree — as his TV screen continued to flash images of the historic storm that had just crashed into his life.
Dangling crane
In Manhattan, the experience was sometimes more surreal than perilous, after subways and businesses shut down and power outages afflicted much of the city.
In the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, retired local newspaper publisher Robert Trentlyon and his wife planned to stay in their darkened apartment Tuesday, although their son lives in a nearby complex that generates its own power. The Trentlyons had phone service and running water, and they routinely use the stairs to their brownstone apartment.
Robert is 83, but, he said: "I'm a good 83," as he planned to grab a flashlight and check whether the building's basement had flooded.
Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images
An apartment building sits damaged in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood Monday.
Some 900 guests were forced to evacuate Manhattan's Le Parker Meridien hotel because a storm-damaged crane dangled dangerously from a high-rise apartment building under construction nearby.
Authorities said they were worried the wilted crane above would tumble down, perhaps pinball into neighboring buildings and crush everything in its path on the ground.
The skyscraper, near Carnegie Hall, is officially called One57 but has been dubbed a "global billionaires' club" because its upper floors will include nine enormous, posh apartments — all sold to billionaires.
"So all of our hurricane food is upstairs in our hotel, we're on a quest to find another hotel, and technically, I'm homeless," said Al Lewis, a guest from Denver who had been staying in the hotel with his wife and two children. "I'm homeless because of these billionaires next door. But, everyone's going to get displaced by a billionaire someday — it's just my time, I guess."
Baking in the cold
Several states to the south, freezing bands of the same gargantuan storm began dumping snow onto tiny Belington, W.Va., (population 1,900). By 3 a.m. Tuesday, when Charlotte Cummings arrived to work at the Goody Basket, her bakery, there was already six inches of snow on the ground.
"Six inches is nothing for around here," Cummings said. "So I just started my day, started baking. Then, at about 8 a.m. the power went out because the snow is so wet and so many branches are coming down. Thankfully, I have gas so I could just keep going."
Bebeto Matthews / AP
The tail end of an SUV is perched on top of a mailbox in New York's Coney Island Monday.
By morning, a foot of snow had fallen — and another foot or more was expected before the slow-moving storm lumbered on. After daylight, three young men walked past the Goody Basket and told Cummings: "This is the first open sign we've seen!"
"They had some pepperoni rolls and some chocolate chip cookies," Cummings said. "I stayed open till about 2 o'clock (p.m.). In fact, before I came home, I just pulled the last pan out of the oven — three dozen pepperoni rolls."
Kelvin Redmond, an accountant and associate minister at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Rockville Centre on Long Island, lives two blocks from the water in a three-story split level, but hadn't been able to get back to check on damage because the streets were still impassable.
Ahead of the storm, he shut off all the power and moved his belongings, computers and irreplaceable items like photos to the third floor.
"It looks like it may be a total loss," he said Tuesday. "But I still have my health and strength. I'm also a minister, so I still — it's going to be a good word on Sunday."
NBC's Kari Huus, contributor Bill Briggs and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Leave a Comment:
So sad...are there any zombies left? Or are they all gone now?
Not funny. Get used to the new normal. Things are going to get worse. Please remember that global warming is real, and even when nature has warmed things some, most of the warming is man made and the result of excessive use of fossil fuels.
Irespond, shut the f**k up. Of course it's real. Have you ever wondered why New Englnd isn't under an ice cap any more?
IRES ... fanatics like you are the very reason that America is becoming two separate countries.
What do you think it cost to mail the suv?
Man made Global warming is what caused this storm, and the snow this early in the year?
Listen. YOU CAN NOT POINT FINGERS AT GLOBAL WARMING ON ONE WEATHER EVENT.
Stop trying to because Climate Change is real and important. There MIGHT BE a correlation but until one is scientifically found assumptions don't help.
Let's focus on helping people in need instead.
One weather event? Have the weather events since 2000 not given you plenty of reason to think it may be the damage we are doing to the planet with the many chemicals, fossil fuel etc ?
we are between ice ages and this storm has nothing to due with man made global warming. i feel bad for the people that lost property but wtf are you thinking you live on the ocean just be thankful you arent fish food right now.
Climate change is a systemic change. There will be no master "switch flip" that shows it's here as you non-believers like to squawk about. It will show up as prolonged droughts, bigger storms, more tornadoes, etc. Sounds like the last 10 years, doesn't it? But, if you want to see it in action quickly, Google yourself some Arctic Ice timelapses or go look for a few hundred glaciers that aren't there anymore. It's real, and it has already tried to erase New Orleans and New England. You know, those two "storms of a lifetime" that happened a few years apart...
"This was literally the storm of our lifetime," said Longport, N.J., Mayor Nick Russo
As a person who has lived through 4 "Floods of the Century" over 50 years, I think Mr Mayor needs to remember Famous. Last. Words. And start to prepare for the next one, even if it is decades away, but I don't think it will take that long.
Whatever the role man has in climate change/global warming (pick your fell good PC term), big or small, it doesn't matter because it is happening. The question is what are we going to do to cope? Continue down the same status quo path and ignore warnings and changes around us or be proactive intelligent beings and do what needs to be done?
Yes it is true that the shear population of this area made the destruction that much more intense but it is no lie that as the climate changes we can expect these storms to be more frequent. And this is not just for coastal areas or the thought process of well ok then build some more levies ect. That is only part of it.
Climate change will have a broad reaching impact and we need to not only give much needed funding to improve infrastructure (and yes that would include looking and weighing what areas need it more when you look at things like floods, some areas are better left alone and the people moved instead, cold hearted, maybe but its reality) and things like reducing consumption of raw materials, energy, ect. And being more self sustainable. I know some people get tired of "green" things and like to make everything political or say well doesn't make sense, let the market decide, guess what? That short term mindset is what will be our undoing.
The fact is some of these green pushes make sense (I agree with that) but others not only reduce pollution (that is a real thing) and greenhouse gases for the GW side, but do get us more self sufficient and in a position to better handle a major catastrophe.
Its not all about who is in DC, what is the best way to make a buck, or the current hot talking point. There are deeper benefits to be had and smarter routes to take that we are not doing.
The fact it is time we start to address, in a meaningful way, some of the problems we are facing. We need to start working together and focus on both effective short term and worthwhile long term solutions, both of which can build on one another. It can be done. Just whether or not we want to. Climate is changing, resources are getting stretched, and population continues to go up. At some point something will give, just whether or not we are prepared (as much as we can be) and can limit the damage when the give happens. Or we can just continue to argue amongst ourselves while the problems continue unchecked and then try to react once it is too late.
The planet has gone through drastic climate change for millions of years well before we were here, and it's going to continue to do so. Is the climate changing, absolutely, as it will always over time as long as the planet is in existence. I don't buy into the whole global warming thing much. Sure, I could be convinced that it has some impact, but overall, you can't tie all of this to that. The climate will always go through drastic changes whether or not we're burning fossil fuels or not. I doubt the dinosaurs burned fossil fuels that led to them getting wiped out.
Is June Conner going to take the profits from the sale of her realestate and donate it to the storm victims. If not, how dare this person use this forum in a pathetic attempt to profit. Lower than low. What a disgusting POS ! As far as global warming, who cares ! People are suffering, homeless and desperate for assistance. Their need supercedes any discussion other than how we are going to help. Donate to those organizations that will help. Volunteer your time. Take in a family. Do something/ anything to help. Regretfully, it appears that the profiteers and critics are going to use these forums to their own twisted advantage. As far as political commentary, let it go.
As far as whether the storm had anything to do with climate change, with all due respect, I will differ to those who are actually credentialed experts on climatology rather than random people on an Internet comment board for the word on that topic.
As far as the storm itself is concerned, I consider myself quite lucky indeed as my only real major inconvenience has been disruption in mass transit in NYC. I still have one friend unaccounted for. Others who have no utilities or water.
I remember well, in 1993 during the great flood of the Mississippi River, all those North-easterners were saying: "Why do, and why are those people allowed to live there, so close to a river that floods?".
Unfortunate as it was and will be for awhile, this natural disaster will demonstrate why relief is not a private sector problem, or a state level problem or a federal government problem; it is all of the above. This disaster will take everyone pitching in all ALL levels from Red Cross (private sector donations) to FEMA. The only way to deal with a disaster is with Teamwork. When one area of out country is affected the whole country is affected one way or the other. If only we could use all of those wasted campaign dollars....................
Jeff-1592116... good post. You are correct, one weather (aka data point) event does not prove or disprove Anthro climate change. We need to focus on helping NJ, NY and the other states effected back on their feet. This is going to cost BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars and take many many months to correct all of the damage done.
On a side note for all you climate change deniers... insurance companies have started to acknowledge climate change in their risk models. The 100 year storm is no longer a valid benchmark.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mindylubber/2012/10/11/climate-proofing-the-insurance-industry/
http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/insurance-climate-change-risk-ceres-30007-1.html
Although the climate might be changing change is normal. Reference the last ice age and many other geological proofs, the vast majority fell long before man arrived.
That disabled woman who chose to remodel her home rather than pay home owners insurance - WOW! But, on the larger scale, that is what our country is doing by dumping billions into wars instead of keeping our infrastructure one step ahead of disasters. Our crumbling cities are man made, our pollution problems are man made, our poor eating habits are man made, our distribution of wealth is man made...the list is endless. There is good capitalism and there is robber barons, good capitalism has a mix of social programs and reasonable profits.
Balance is what allowed humans to get this far - we are so out of balance right now that some have gone as far as to say there needs to be a major kill off for humans to continue...regardless of party in power, don't expect anyone but your self to avoid these kill offs. Our government has no answers when it comes to your daily survival - cut down that 60 foot oak in the front yard, park your car and your self on high ground during storms...look around you and take in what you see - and be proactive...being dumbed down is a choice.
Under Obama-care I have to pay $700 a month for Health Insurance - and it is worth every penny, that is until I learn to operate on my self. Get your priorities straight - nobody cares if you have $250,000 worth of tattoos if you are homeless.
It's bad here on the NY/NJ border. Power may be out for up to 3 weeks. Wires down everywhere and many houses with trees on or in them. Fortunately very little rain, so flooding wasn't an issue in the country. The storm surge, however...........
It's like a tornado blew in along with the hurricane. My condolences to any who lost anything.
We'll get through this.
Thanks to all for the prayers and support.
Amazing how "human caused climate change" supporters use irrational and "after the fact" events to say "SEE!! SEE!! Global Warming!!". Sorry, if you want to try and convince logical and intelligent people of this nonsense it won't work. But if you want to wait until something happens then say you knew it all along join the circus or become a palm reader.
You see let me give you an update: Sometimes it gets hot and sometimes it gets cold. Sometimes it snows and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it rains and sometimes we have droughts. Sometimes we get hurricanes with some frequency and sometimes they are far apart. Sometimes our planet goes through heat spells and sometimes it has gotten cold.
But climate change nuts will see a hurricane like this and say "SEE!! Global Warming!!". But then when we go four years WITHOUT a hurricane they say "SEE!! Global Warming!!". Weatherman, climatologists, and scientists cannot tell us what will happen NEXT WEEK let alone one year, five years, ten years, or 50 years down the road.
So stop trying to push your political agenda, wake up, and smell the coffee. It is called "weather". It is called "climate". It is called "natural cycles". Time for you to realize.
ProBiz - I don't see it that way. As someone pointed out, individual events don't say anything about global trends. I know what the experts say about about the cumulative data regarding global climate trends though that is what we rely upon. We can't trust media talking heads (Beck, Jones, Hannity), politicians ( Gore, Romney, Ryan), or business (Koch) on matters that are outside their ken. In all matters that are beyond our own areas of expertise, we rely on the consensus of the experts in those respective fields to give us informed insight regardless of whether it's what we want to hear or not. If you don't, sorry, but you're a fool.
ProBiz-I don't see it that way either.It's very simple:more CO2 in the atmosphere=warmer temperature on the planet.It was like that since the oldest time.The difference today is the quickness of that change..And the responsability is on human being,that's it.Nothing natural in that change.
Goldie- No, the zombies are not gone, at all. It is the real Republican Party that is gone. The Republican party has been overtaken by the zombies. Even the authentic Republicans have now come to realize that, very sad, reality. Doubters need only to look at the Republican members of the House Committee on Science.
If a vine were about Easter bunnies some people would find a need to make a political comment. Give it a rest.
Hate to tell you all this but I live in NY and guess what there hasn't been a Republick sighting in I would say 20 years or more. Last time the state voted for one was way back in 1984 for Ronnie. We did have a governor who claimed to be a Republick, George Patty Cake, but he was built in the mode of arnie in Ca. Gave the lack of public service workers unions whatever they wanted. Our phat cat teachers are living the dream here 125k per year, retire at 75K, lifetime employment and a health care package to die for. Thus like all big blue Dumbocrat voting states, CA, Ill, Ri etc we are on the verge of bankruptcy. Why just last week three cities said they can't pay their bills much longer. No can't blame the Republick here in the once great state of NY, the Dumbocrats run the show top to bottom.
Obama won.t be able to cover this up. I do feel sorry for those impacted by the storm.
Beware of Tropical Storm Baby Satan. (Mitt is a zero and not a hero). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BnbJeJ3qGE
Army: we have the same situation here in The People's Republick of Maryland.
Dumbo Governor, Dumbo state legislators, dumbo city mayors--and guess what--they can't get along with each other. If it wasn't sad, it would be laughable.
I am so sorry for all of your losses. You all are in my prayers.
May the good Lord bless all the people, they need our prayers and any help we might give.
How much easier helping would be if we had a strong economy and employment status.
Even here with the political crap. Don't deny it. No shame, no class.
LOL :)
During Katrina I stayed in our house alone less than a mile from the water. The house is on a slight hill about 16ft above sea level. Its a nice sturdy brick house. I ended up in about 2 feet of water inside the house and about 5 feet outside. Not sure how that happened to this day. Anyhow, watching these people trying to go home, I just feel so bad for them. It is unbelievable how terrible a feeling it is to have everything gone. After the storm I drove down to check on my families homes nearer the water. A place that I have lived for over 50 years and knew like the back of my hand, I had to stop the truck and walk over endless debris and could not orient myself other than some concrete road signs in the ground. I had to call three relatives, they all asked how their homes were, and I had to tell them they had no home, they were completely gone. Its awful. I hope these people get as much help as possible.
NYC photo op campaign trip to tour... denied. Sorry too busy here. Love it.
Now repeat after me:
"Global Warming is a myth. Drill, baby, drill!.... Global Warming is a myth. Drill, baby, drill!.... Global Warming is a myth. Drill, baby, drill!..."
Shut off your computer then, you're contributing to global warming. Shut off your ipod and cell phone, the batteries will eventually pollute the atmosphere. Go live in a log cabin and hike to work.
Liberal
I think, you hit a soft spot, on wilman. Likely, his head! They can't deny it, any more. So now, they will say it's Obama's fault.
so is ..."Liberal".....when joined with...."college girl" .....an oxymoron or a redundancy ? ...both fit well..............
Yes of course man made global warming is a myth, if a hump like al gore who made $100 million off this hoax isn't proof enough. But since you are a liberal there is no cure for that kind of mental disorder. Not 16 trillion in debt, $4.00 gallon gas, 25% unemployment and underemployment, housing prices down 40%, big blue Dumbocrat voting state like CA, NY, Ill all broke because of your tax and spend policies. And you keep voting for the Dumbocrats, proof positive, there is no cure.
There is not a single shread of evidence that global warming had anything to do with this storm. Maybe that will prove to be the case at some point, but let's just focus on helping those in need and leave all that to the experts.
Global warming... one more named storm than the past two years. This is the biggest, practically only hurricane to hit since Katrina. Looking back since they started recording storms a couple hundred years ago.. periods of more storms, less storms, back and forth years. There is also a global warming blizzard going on in the area. More people live in areas affected by the storm theses days, media gives each storm more attention. Science has shown (proof not speculation) that the earth has gone through periods of warming and cooling for millions of years. But hey, this is a campaign year so bring out the trash if it works!!!
....and Big Algore is sitting back laughing and saying... who cares about being president... I made almost a half billion off this global warming nonsense..... :-)
Any body out there still believing in Darwin? Better catch up from the 80s.... and tell the local high school science teacher and budget college professor when you find out.... :-)
The sustained, evidentiary reality of global warming may be up for debate, but, the issue I with the majority of the environmental finger pointers is that there's never a plausible, reality based alternative solution proposed.
If we stop the drilling, stop the farming, stop the fishing, stop the timber harvest, stop the driving, stop the mining, stop the flying, stop the development....then what? Instead of simply saying "more solar, more wind, alternative fuels" how about starting with the facts: there are 6 BILLION souls on this little rock. The people living in mud huts want a better life as do the middle class factory worker and his nurse wife here in the States.
It is unrealistic to simply say "it's global warming....we have to stop this." Give us a solution--a real solution--that starts with the hard truth. There are an increasingly greater number of people on the planet. Life expectancy in developed and developing countries is rising rapidly. Everybody wants more out of their lives, not less.
And, no, I'm not a world population control advocate. I'm a realist looking for the smart people to show the rest of us an answer.
Sure soft spot on my head... What's up with Miss Green? I guess she's not a power consumer and runs her computer off her windmill.
Dang, I thought I read that global warming was caused by cow farts? Really, I know I read that multi million dollar government study. This is settled, cow farts.
Now one knows why, how, or when the earth goes through its heating and cooling cycles. I lot of people like to pretend they know to make big dollars. And like good old Orson Wells..... the bigger the hoax, the more people believe... Martians are coming next...
Keep drinking the kool-aid and wait until you grow up and look for a job, can't find one, or if you do pay those really HIGH taxes to pay for the freebies. When you're out in the real world get back to us and let us know what you REALLY think.
I seriously need to keep my sides from splitting here. They make about the median income for their region. No joke! I made as a technician in industry about the same as an MD with a PhD (that's two different advanced degrees) in academia doing cancer research. (And I didn't have 10 years worth of student loans to repay!)
Liberal College Girl, come and see the devastation first hand and try making those smart azz renarks to people who just lost everything.
Maybe even help us out, unless you're afraid of breaking a nail or dropping your ipod in the water.
Please turn off your computer and go back to studying your useless psycho babble.
Hi and my condolences, I live in Finland and I am thinking how bad N.Y. subway situation is - we had a similar incident in Finland where a water main ruptured and flooded the Helsinki central metro station. Station was closed for two months because water destroyed the following things:
- elevators
- escalators
- metro traffic controlling equipment
- traffic information systems
- ticket readers
- electricity switchboards
- floor tiling - they had to sand them because the silt from the ground was stuck like glue
Our station was basically rebuilt after the flooding, and this was only sweet water!
New York subway is flooded with salt water which conducts electricity much better than sweet water. This means all equipment under water is damaged so that just drying them and switching them on is out of question. Unless your subway system is built to withstand submerging under sea water I think the outage is weeks, if not months at the worst places. That is a bad thing for a busy place like New York.
However I hope you figure some ingenious way out of this! (get streetcars back, build some redundancy on your public transportation system)
Yup this was something they feared happening for some time now and will not be easy to fix more then likely. It will be hard for most people just to get around the city without the subway running.
Sweet water = fresh water, I will have to remember that if I ever go to Finland :). As long as they shut off the power water does not do much damage to the wiring. It is what is in the water and gets left behind that is the problem. Flushing or cleaning could get rid of most of the impurites, but it might be hard to do an entire subway system at once. In the electronics industry circuit boards get washed with water all the time, but that is just a small board that gets dried off right after too. Once corrosion sets in it is a whole other story.
Hurricanes can be nasty. They remind me of how little and insignificant we all are, and what true power is. We should all be thankful that this was not a stronger category of hurricane. The loss of life and homes would have been even worse.
I was in Pensacola during Ivan. We had to evacuate the barrier island, so I was in the Northern part of the city with family and friends. We rode out the storm safely, but couldn't believe our eyes when we came outside at daylight. There is no describing it. I was storm shocked for about a year. Events like this are far-reaching and long lasting. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you that are in the path of this devastation. It's going to take a while, do it one day at a time, baby steps, don't push yourself real hard, keep busy, but don't exhaust yourself because you can drop dead from stress and heart attacks...it happenes, and it doesn't make the news cause it's after the storm and the media has gone on to the next thing. The waves of sadness, hopelessness, and the full range of emotions are gonna wash over you like the hurricane....God bless you all.
First, our prayers to those affected. Secondly, this woman had the money to renovate the house, but didn't have the money for insurance? Which is more important? I'm sorry she's homeless, but she made the decisions that led to this.
People who don't carry insurance shouldn't expect government to bail them out (tax dollars). Government also shouldn't be in the business of issuing flood insurance AND deciding which areas are in flood plains.
Dunga: Do you enjoy kicking people when they're down and blaming the victim? We don't know why the woman renovated her house. It could have been unsafe, making renovation a necessity. You leapt to a conclusion based on limited facts; therefore, your judgmental attitude is unwarranted.
Dan is right. Disabled, unemployed and no savings, but choosing to renovate a house instead of insure it? That is choosing to live on the edge, and sometimes the edge crumbles underneath you. If it was so unsafe she couldn't live in it while still paying for necessities like homeowner insurance, then it just wasn't a viable option, was it?
Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you. If you smear yourself with honey and hang out in bear-infested forests then cry about your predicament... *shrug*
Always insure your home. If you can't afford it ask your kids or other relatives to help. My homeowner's insurance is 379 per year.
Well, there is a very valid reason the government had to step in when it came to flood insurance and determining which areas were flood zones.
Do a simple search for that answer.
I hope you all realize that we all will be affected by this. The insurance companies will raise everyone's rates. That's what insurance companies do. So what difference does it make if the federal government pays or insurance pays. We all will share it the cost. Not making a judgement just stating what it.
I did hope everyone is now safe, and best wishes for a speedy recover.
Even if she couldn't afford homeowners insurance (although that should have come before renovations), she could have at least gotten insurance for her personal belongings. My renters insurance costs just over 100/year for 10k in coverage. With that, she could have replaced the essentials and at least found a place to rent while she figured out what to do next.
Jeanette - "My homeowner's insurance is 379 per year."
It must be nice to pay so little for your home insurance. I have a quarterly payment for my home insurance due next week that is the same amount as your yearly payment. I will also state that I live in Beaumont, TX (30 miles from the Gulf Coast). It was hit by both Hurricanes Rita and Ike. You can only look forward to more expensive insurance if these storms continue to lash at areas not normally associated with them.
As stated above, I can whole-heartedly feel for the people who have been affected by Sandy. It will take a while for things to return to normal, but it does. However, the fun part of all this is just beginning... FEMA is now involved.
The devastation is shocking. However, as a resident of Florida it is very clear none of the north east was built with the idea that a bad storm would ever come. although Long Island was almost wiped out in 1938 and another storm hit in the 60's and hurricane Agnes was there in 1972. We see entire neighborhoods built at ground level on the beach. I would recommend that no house should be built to the existing New Jersey/New York codes. They should use the strongest hurricane codes, perhaps the South Florida codes. Just like rebuilding New Orleans below sea level makes no sense, rebuilding N. Jersey and NY shoreline communities just like they were is insane. There will be massive claims against the taxpayers to pay for this. Many of those people are uninsured or under-insured. As we saw with Katrina the Insurance companies will be screwing people right and left as they worry about their profits declining vs worrying about the people wiped out who paid their premiums. Just heard an interview with a Insurance guy from Dallas driving to Jersey to do insurance claims adjusting. He referred to people who didn't carry enough insurance as irresponsible. For him to be evaluating people from several hundreds of miles out of state and expressing it on the radio is an incredibly bad sign. He also referred to this as an opportunity to retire. That last sounded like he earns incentive pay to keep claims settlements low and he intends to cash in. The state Attorneys General and district attorneys need to get people in the field with these adjusters and keep em honest. This is going to get ugly.
My heart goes out to this woman to be homeless with no possessions, I mean that has to be one of the worst feelings. However I would never, ever not have homeowners or renters insurance. It really isn't that expensive. I wonder if she has cable TV or a smartphone - those are much more expensive per year than homeowners insurance. It's a horrible situation, it really is, but you have to keep your priorities straight and make sure you're prepared for an emergency first. Keep money in your savings, don't spend it all. If you can't afford the area you live in, move to a less expensive location. I hope she's able to rebuild her life, but at some point people have to take personal responsibility to prepare themselves for an emergency.
...and Romney would like to eliminate FEMA.
...and conservative/GOPs deny global warming and it's effect on the weather.
Think of all those years of small raises for workers so that senior management could afford all of those houses on the beach,...wasted.
Now we are forced to think about what it means to be and to have and to need a neighbor.
God bless everyone who was effected by the storm.
Hey, it's worse than that. Taxpayers are going to help rebuild those millionaires' homes and they'll pay for virtually all of the infrastructure around them. Arguably that last is a legitimate govt duty, but it's folly to rebuild back in the same vulnerable areas as before. Move back from the water's edge! Give the sea its space! If you insist on building close to the sea, do it at your own expense.
Despite the tone of that rant, I do wish everyone well.... but be smart!
More false bs.
Darn is right. We had this locally in North FLa a couple years ago. HEurricane flooded a coastal community and we had all the arguing. Beach house owners want the public to rebuild their places for them if they didn't have insurance or fed flood insurance. Locals living 30 miles inland yelling it isn't fair for them to be charged so someguy on the beach can have a nice life when the weather is fair. Plus the beach communities build private property fence to fence and non-beach owners can't get to the beach (which they are told is public). And the icing on the cake is: IF you want to rent a beach house of modest size for a week they'll charge you $4,000 to $6,000 and you have a 20% chance the AC, or the Fridge isn't working when you check in. And they get huffy when you say you don't want to rebuild them after a storm.
Well at least the Re Pubs and Tea baggers will not be asking for government money to help out in this disaster! All they have to do is ask Romney and Ryan how they would clean it up without money from the tax payer!
You're an idiot. Go shoot your family and then yourself.
Serf and Dale: Can't get through a simple news article without going political?
The government must not spend any money on this, unless it's profitable. As the republicans tell us; we can only spend money on wars and war material. The people will just have to fend for themselves.
Seriously - give the blame game and political crap a break already!
These are people just like each of us - neighbors, friends who have lost everything. I don't know how these folks gather the strength to begin the clean up and try to figure out what to do next. Thoughts and prayers are with them.
Donations are needed to those programs that can go and provide first hand food, shelter and clothing. Red Cross reportedly needs blood donations.
SailNaked banned for death wishing another user.
No matter where you live, you cannot afford to NOT have homeowners insurance AND flood insurance. While this is a sad and devasting event that has occurred, this will serve as a wake-up call to people who brush off flood insurance. As someone who has personallyl been through this before, insurance doesn't replace your "life" but it does make sure that you will always have a roof over your head and a bed to sleep on. I feel very sorry for those who have lost everything.
Im not so sure flood insurance covers a natural disaster or a act of nature!
Now that we know those low-lying areas are floodplains, nobody should be allowed to build anything there.
Now We know what the phrase you didn't build it by yourself means! I can almost hear Romney saying, Let the water recede and everyone take care of their own problems! But really they do collect plenty of toll money in that part of the country. Seems like they could use some of that to help out!
dale-763548 has a valid point. After Katrina, people who had flood insurance were refused payment for flood damage because insurance companies contended that the policies didn't cover hurricanes. With the massive devastation wreaked by Sandy, it is a sure bet that the insurance companies are hustling to find a way out of paying policy limits!
It'd be nice if the President and/or the Governors of the worst-affected states would declare a three-month moratorium on rents, loans, and mortgage payments for people and companies under a certain amount of net worth (obviously not rich people and businesses).
If there's no public transportation, people can't get to work. If they can't get to work, they can't pay their rent. If their landlords can't collect rent, they can't pay their own mortgages.
these people bought property right next to the ocean. if anything they should be paying the tax payers who were smart enough to not build their houses next to the bloody ocean. everyones insurance is going to go up now thanks to the brilliant people who thought it was a good idea to be able to walk to the beach. its like buying a house next to an airport then complaining about the noise.
The President and the Governors have NO Authority what so EVER in private contracts in this matter.
IF I was a landlord, and the house wasnt already trashed to hell from the storm, I would EXPECT my tenants to keep paying the rent like it was agreed to, OR Come to me and make arraignments.
If the President or the Gvner tried to make that order, I don't care who they are or what party they are in, I would tell them to take a long jump off a short pier. NOT within their power to do.
I'm not sure that argument works here. We're not always talking about some mcmansion on the beach front. In NYC some of the storm surge came from the rivers and spread many blocks. When I lived in the city, I wasn't thinking too hard about the river 3 blocks away because it simply never flooded like what we saw here.
Folks, it's not JUST the ocean areas that are toast. Yes, arguably it is the most visible and sad of the destruction to the state's income, but FAR MORE people lost alot than just the little line lining the Jersey Shore. I live in Northwest NJ, and since the shore is a priority, we will not have power in ALL of Sussex county (that's OVER 55,000 homes/businesses etc) until the final inspections are done - well over a week from now. That's every home, every business, every gas station, every town, hamlet, borough over the top 2/3 of the state. We didn't get water damage and flooding, we have 1/4 of the trasmission poles we had on Sunday, most roads are impassable due to down trees containing wires etc, but yes, the jersey shore is more important visually. My heart goes out to the families affected there, as I was born there, but REALLY??? is that the ONLY place in the state where people hurt, are cold, no water, no light, no heat....>??????
With China's economy going down the falsley inflated proverbial sh***er I wonder how they plan on paying for this mess?
SailNaked: They claim they built it all by themselves!' Well" Well this would be a good time to show us how they did it! Wanna bet their will be more 1 per centers sticking their hand out than 47 per centers!
Like we have been doing for the last 4 years, barry and benny and the ink jet will continue to print those near worthless Federal Reserve notes. That is what any government that is broke will do when they need to pay their bills and there creditor have cut them off. Been doing that since the Romans, they made their coins with less and less gold. Only downside is that you and I the consumer is going to get hit with run away inflation coming very soon.
Sail
First, they should, shoot you. Then tax, your dead ass.
I'm still bitter over loosing my home in central Texas last year in the fires. Over 1,400 homes lost. Not a damn thing from FEMA. Our idiot governor took days to ask for aid from other states.
I hope these people get more assistance than we did.
/rant
Yea and the worst part is you didn't have bush to blame. Have you seen any FEMA peeps on the ground in the Northeast, no me either. Does that mean that barry hates white people?
Army1971, where are you getting your information?
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=118387
In case you just want to comment again without going to the link provided, here's a snipet for you to chew on.
Back under the bridge with you. Maybe instead of trolling message boards, you could actually see if you could help in any way. Even a one dollar donation to the Red Cross would help.
KBarnett, about those fires. You have your Governor to blame for that. Texas had received several grants and help from 47 states for the devastating wild fires. It was more of a mismanaged issue rather than lack of help. Not to mention, fire does what it damn well pleases.
but but but...don't you texans feel better for going it alone?
I'm waiting for guvnor krispy kream to refuse all federal aid for his state since his good buddy mittens wants to kill fema and push the costss down to the states as a cost cutting measure...
we should have done that before those red statesa got all of that welfare after katrina and BP.
Ok NYmike but where are they, you and I both live in the once great state of NY. You are a big time supported of the Dumbocrats I am sure. So have you seen any FEMA peeps in your neighborhood or on TV, I have been watching this for days and have yet to see a FEMA person anywhere. How about you?
@kbarnett; army1971 and all the other climate change deniers forgot to tell you how its your fault because you built your house is a fire prone area. Shame on you for not preparing for every natural disaster and asking for someone to help. Be like the rest of the right and do it yourself.
When you don't know someone, you you just make crap up, right?
Why should I dignify any more of what you say with an answer? You obviously will create whatever answer you want to anyways.
ARMY1971.......
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans Bush went to John McCain's birthday party while all those people lost their lives and homes and everything they owned.
When Bush arrived at McCain's, he gave his famous speech....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JOHNNY..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! OH BOY CAKE AND ICE CREAM!
After the birthday party Bush advisers had him go to California for a campaign funding party!
Romney hired 17 of his 24 advisers from this failed team. WHY GIVE THEM ANOTHER CHANCE TO FAIL?
I witnessed the devastation from hurricane Hugo, but the aftermath of Sandy is unbelievable.
RCP Averages as of 10/31/2012 7:20am EST
Colorado(9) - Tie - trend is flat
Florida(29) - Romney +1.0 - trending down for Romney (previous: 1.8, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3)
Iowa(6) - Obama +1.0 - trending down for Obama (previous: 2.3)
Michigan(16) - Obama +3.0 - trending down for Obama (previous: 4.0)
Nevada(6) - Obama +2.4 - trending down for Obama (previous: 2.6)
New Hampshire(4) - Obama +1.0 - trending up for Obama (previous: 1.4, 2.0)
North Carolina(15) - Romney +3.3 - trending up for Romney (previous: 3.8, 3.0)
Ohio(18) - Obama +2.4 - trending up for Obama (previous: 2.3, 1.9, 2.1)
Pennsylvania(20) - Obama +4.7 - trend is flat
Virginia(13) - Obama +0.3- trending up for Obama (previous:Tie)
Wisconsin(10) - Obama +2.3 - trend is flat
Give Romney the states that are tied and those where he is ahead and Obama still wins:
Obama 294
Romney 243
What do you do the other 3 years 9 months of the year when there isn't a presedential campaign going on? Let me guess...live with mom?
I could have saved you some time. I gave a second term to Obama years ago, arguably w/o the thought you have put into this, but w/ all the thought it deserved. This election is not important in any significant way. Nothing will change.
Nice to see that Obama is trending DOWN in almost all the polling states you mentioned. The more you find out about Obama....the more Romney looks like the stronger choice!!
Wall to wall coverage of this event no surprise. But one thing that is missing where is FEMA? The only help group that is on the ground is some Christian organization in NJ with tractor trailers full waiting for the governor to give them the ok to move into neighborhoods. Will say what a refreshing change of pace from Katrina with Cuomo, Malloy and Christy acting like executives and taking charge. Remember gov Blanco, she should have been called blank slate, and the best was Mayor Ray Nagin who was going to rebuild New Orleans into a chocolate city. And that Bush hated black people that is why FEMA was late in responding, and the sad part is that he got away with such nonsense. Saw a guy wearing a t-@!$%# that said I am going keep drinking till Nagin make sense to me, priceless.
Stop lying.
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=118387
NYMike, you shouldn't believe everything on the internet. It's great that the information is published online but ARMY has a point--if there's no evidince on the ground, how can someone prove that FEMA actually got involved on the ground?
Yeah, because what a person is seeing personally or on tv really tells the entire story!
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/superstorm-fema-disaster-response-praised/story?id=17599970
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/fema-hurricane-sandy_n_2046805.html
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/fema_crews_at_westover_prepare.html
There are many other links showing the immediate response and action by FEMA.
And no, Army1971 doesn't have a point. If you prefer to believe them, that's fine. Me however? I'll believe the multitude of articles clearly showing FEMA on the ground helping.
Now if you don't mind, my lunch is over and I need to get back to work.
FEMA steps in AFTER being requested to do so. NJ isn't the only area hit. It's up to the state to provide relief, not the Feds.
If you find people starting to avoid you in real life, and if you are suddenly dropping friends on FB, it could be because you are morphing into an obsessed political person. No matter the party; if every comment you make and every thought you have is political; you are starting to turn people off.
Is there a rehab group for political junkies? I think we need one...I'd probably join....altho, I'd have to be talked down first...tee hee...
With Katrina, everyone with damage eventually got paid, some were paid multiple times what their property and goods were worth. But, it took too long as insuance companies drug their feet to mitigate the damage. Eventually, swift teams, made up of 3rd party contractors were hire to speed up claims and move projects along. That is what we need with Sandy from the start. Do not allow the insurers and re-insurers to stall. Obama and governors should demand a three year moratoriam on insurance premium increases. NYC will get billions to rebuild tubes, but we don't have the money. Could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
We have plenty of money that is what Malfoy the gov of Ct said, whatever it takes. As long as we don't run out of silk paper and green ink, barry and benny and the ink jet will keep the presses running. Who do you think is buyingr 60% of the T Bills which finance the 1.4 trillion dollar debt we run up every year? The Federal Gov, they just print more money and then buy the T bills from themselves. Maybe that make sense to you Dumbocrats and Republciks out there, but not here it doesn't.
Sorry I guess I am starting to sound like the Dumbocrats during baby bush's 8 years. The blame game was everyday, 4% unemployment was a recession, gas at $1.86 meant the oil companies controlled him, hurricane hit NO he caused it because he hates blacks. The list is endless, I guess your memory is very short. And ps if I was looking for any more friends it sure would not be the crew that hangs out panting for more "news" from MSLSD.
Its stuff like this that makes you realize how fragile it all is. One storm and your life changes forever. Especially with climate change making superstorms. Life is going to get hard on a regular basis.
The weathermen were right on target with this one. Glad that most people took the advice seriously and left town!
Though tragic as this is, I can't help but say a lot of coastal states were warned that something like this would happen, not could happen, but would happen. The first warning went out months ago about the rise in water levels on the east coast, but all the local politicians, backed by big money(the Koch brothers), ignored the warning and the science, they called it "absurd". For some reason they don't like science, that is a dangerous thing when people lives are apart of the equation, thats greed. Could this have been avoided? I really don't know, but I think the damage could have been minimized if the warnings had been heeded. You can call it "Global Warming" or what ever else you want to call it, but the fact is, all the shorelines the World over has risen a few inches, and that is something we cannot afford to ignore.
The good news is, the States most effected is getting the Federal funding and support they need to try and return things to a sence of normalsy as soon as possible, FEMA is doing an outstanding job and I commend them on their work. As with all tragedies, this will take time, this is not something that can be fixed overnite, in time, things will return to normal.
You are a twit. The rising water was from storm surge made worse by tides. Yes, gloabl warming is real and yes the oceans have risen an inch or two. That has NOTHING to do with the 11.2 feet of surge that flooded coastal areas and wrecked levees. Get your information straight, and then try to use it properly...
And yet, with all the "hype" and "histrionics," I see the quote in the story, "They kind of told us..." Seriously. It doesn't have to be a Cat 5 like Camille or Cat 3 like Katrina to be a disaster. They were hitting everyone over the head with the fact that wind was not going to be an issue - WATER was. A storm surge has nothing to do with the winds, the Saffir-Simpson scale is used to determine possible WIND damage only. A storm surge from a Cat 1 can wipe a coastal town off the map. Look up T.S Allison and see how much damage a tropical storm can do from rain alone. Pay attention, prepare, and if the worst doesn't happen to you, be thankful.
"While Romney resumes campaign. President deals with storm" ~ NBC
Can you guys put your stupid political bias aside ....just for a little bit ? The President is supposed to be "dealing with the storm" ......He is the PRESIDENT!!! If Romney shows up you will say that he is stealing his thunder .....JUST LEAVE IT ALONE for now .....