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I'll say this: out of how many people who DID prepare; how many were caught with their pants down? People gotta remember there are MILLIONS of people in the NYC and NJ areas. Also things there were pretty "good" for 3 days: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It's now Thursday.
Have we actually created a society of people who cannot take care of themsleves? They are so dependent on the gov tit, that three or four days of expectation of self reliance puts them into a tail spin? This is what comes of entitlement programs where the only qualification for benefits is begging the loudest. We created these people who cannot and will not take care of themselves...or their children...or their parents...or even their pets.
I suggest a good dose of Social Dwarwinism...survival of the fittest. You can't take care of yourself? No food for idiots.
We have indeed created a segment of society that is utterly dependent upon the system functioning as it always has. Keep in mind that these people know of no other environment. They may be very successful and highly paid, but that is the only environment they know. If you take them out of that environment you are taking them out of their element and putting them someplace foreign. The same could be said for anyone born and raised in just a single environment. Someone who has lived their entire lives in a dry-cabin, off the grid, in remote Alaska is going to be completely lost in a place like Manhattan.
You cannot have cities without support systems, and that includes transportation. If those support systems crumble, then city critters are in dire peril indeed. That is why all the relief money goes to cities before rural areas after a natural disaster. Cities cannot survive without certain services and utilities already in place. There are simply too many people packed into one area to be able to "live off the land," as someone in a more rural area might be able to accomplish.
Sigh. You are right. What can we expect from city folk who can't even make their own coffee, even when there is power? Shucks....I was in NYC, one time...saw seven Starbucks within two blocks...not counting Dunkin Donuts either.
Staten Island was not getting the media attention, now that it is, The National Guard and Red Cross are there and
Janet Napolitano is going there tomorrow.
I am sure that the next time an order is issued to evacuate, people will in fact, evacuate. So sad about the two small children that were found drowned today.
This is the wake up call that low lying areas needed, but sadly, it will take quite awhile to rebound from this.
Staten Island was not getting the media attention, now that it is, The National Guard and Red Cross are there and
Janet Napolitano is going there tomorrow.
I am sure that the next time an order is issued to evacuate, people will in fact, evacuate. So sad about the two small children that were found drowned today.
This is the wake up call that low lying areas needed, but sadly, it will take quite awhile to rebound from this.
Thank you for the well stated post.
People who refuse to evacuate not only risk themselves but the lives of rescue workers sent to save them.
I never understand the mindset of a person who lives right on the coast when a hurricane is coming and storm surge with it who decides to "ride it out". It just makes absolutely no sense at all. Then like you say others have to risk their lives to come save em. Now some poor guy who lives inland and sticks his head out after to see what is going on and has a tree fall on him is just plain bad luck. But the others???
If you live in an apartment, where are you supposed to store gas cans? BTW, did you see those 80 homes get destroyed by that fire? What if everyone stored 20 gallons of gasoline?
The storm only hit a few days ago -- why didn't they just fill their gas tanks and it should have lasted them at least a week -- especially because they weren't driving around for a couple days when the storm hit and then with the flooding.
I feel terrible for those people. They must not be used to preparing for a hurricane. It would have been better to fill up before and stock up before. Living near the gulf coast gives you a lot of experience.
They should be though -- if they knew anything about the history of that region, they'd know there have been some pretty bad hurricanes and storms hit -- back in 1821, 1893, 1938, 1954, 1960, 1972 -- why would they think a Cat 3 or 4 hurricane just could never show up again?
Yet they become more and more packed into problem areas and more and more helpless.
Thank you for the well stated post.
People who refuse to evacuate not only risk themselves but the lives of rescue workers sent to save them.
The problem was that people thought that since hurricane Irene was overstated before it hit and assumed that this one was too. It is surreal to me because I was staying with my elderly father and it is a neighborhood that is a ten minute drive to Brighton and Coney Island beaches, fiteen minutes to Rockaway and Breezy Point beaches, a half hour drive to Staten Island over the Verrazano Bridge and less than a half hour to downtown Manahattan. We never lost power, no trees down that I have seen and no houses damaged that I have seen. About two miles away, a couple that was walking their dog was found crushed under a tree. Sad but WTH were they thinking? So, lucky for us, this particular area was insulated, being just far enough away from the shore. I'm always amazed that NYC insists on building these glass skyscrapers considering the fact that NYC has an underground fault line that has the potential to shake the city to its core. Scary stuff.
I'm almost feeling guilty that this area is so unscathed as compared to so many other parts of the city, but I know how lucky we really are. I smelled smoke for about 3-4 hours after the storm made landfall and then found out on the news the next morning that 80 houses burnt down in Breezy Point and the wind was carrying it in our direction. Those were gorgeous homes and luckily those homeowners were smart enough to evacute and no one was hurt. I'm still shocked everytime I watch the news and see just how bad this was.
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