An epic storm blew through the Northeast US yesterday and while I am always skeptical of weather hype, this one seems to have lived up to the billing. Satellite images revealed a hurricane core far bigger than most (making last year’s Irene look puny) barreling down on the Eastern seaboard, and the wind began accelerating 24 hours before landfall. Schools were shut down days in advance (and remain closed today and tomorrow) and subways and buses remain out of service, effectively shutting down the entire city. It appears that many subway tunnels were flooded with salt water, which could destroy vast amounts of equipment and keep some lines out of service for days or weeks. Over 300,000 households lost power in the city which may take an excruciatingly long time to repair. The economic costs in recovery and lost business are incalculable at this point.
On the bright side, Sandy forced Alaina and I to share a home vacation, which can be rare in our work situations. We stayed in and watched movies and cooked food and enjoyed our own company. Fortunately, we live a few steps from the highest point in Brooklyn, so our water damage was negligible, and we live a few steps from a power transformer station, so we maintained electricity (hence the blogging). We are lucky to have escaped this disaster unscathed, but many others are dramatically affected. I can only hope that the recovery is swift and that we can be better prepared for these events in the future, which appear to be occurring with startlingly increasing regularity. We can repair the city and replace our losses, but we will probably never be able to tame our erratic and occasionally violent environment.
