Question for all those convinced that the Sandy victims are idiots (ground, electricity)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've only been to Galveston once myself, and never lived in Texas. I'm from the east coast, though I've lived in many cities on both coasts.
I took that user name handle thang to be you are a Texan.. I have only been in Texas once for 3 days riding east from one end to the other end..... Texas is pretty big, but not as big as riding from NH to Cal and back to the east coast.
Evidently I wasn't paying good attention and when I hit the east coast again it was somewhat south of NH a strange place called Florida... Well It appears i made a wrong turn leaving Fla to and ended up in Oklahoma
I know, I know, there is maps and there is GPS, but I wasn't even following the sun...
They really know how to make salt ham in Mountain View Ar
No. SI is all hills. We have the second highest elevation on the East Coast, Todt Hill. I'm on the border of Zone C and No Zone. We didn't evacuate (but were prepared to). At most, we would have had a lot of water in the basement.
What does that mean? 2nd highest elv. on the east coast..... Don't get it. There are mountains on the east coast in Maine with wet feet in the sea water? huh?
No. SI is all hills. We have the second highest elevation on the East Coast, Todt Hill. I'm on the border of Zone C and No Zone. We didn't evacuate (but were prepared to). At most, we would have had a lot of water in the basement.
Very true. Most people did. But now we have thousands of people who are homeless and winter is setting in. It's so very sad. You can't live on a BOB long term.
Are you saying parts of SI weren't evacuation zones, as that just plain isn't true?
And again, no offense, as I survived the same storm, however, I survived because #1, I evacuated, and #2, my home isn't as close to the water as I'd love it to be for the very reason that it would be in harm's way should a large storm hit.
Those who don't evacuate take that chance. Those that live on the water also take that chance. These are usually the same people that say I'm too cautious with my home selections. That may be true, but my family, pets, and home came out of the storm relatively unscathed due to my low risk threshold.
Yes, it stinks that people are in this situation. But it's nature. And to deny that nature will never be nature and eventually leave those in nature's path SOL is foolish. That's why you keep nature in the back of your mind when picking where to get a home for your family. That's why you prepare when a storm is coming (especially when you have the luxury of having notice that it's coming, unlike those in earthquake country).
I do sympathize for those that didn't come out of this as well as we did. I truly do. However, I believe that the majority of them had choices and made decisions (not counting those with physical or mental limitations, children, animals, etc). It's unfortunate their decisions didn't work out better.
I took that user name handle thang to be you are a Texan.. I have only been in Texas once for 3 days riding east from one end to the other end..... Texas is pretty big, but not as big as riding from NH to Cal and back to the east coast.
Evidently I wasn't paying good attention and when I hit the east coast again it was somewhat south of NH a strange place called Florida... Well It appears i made a wrong turn leaving Fla to and ended up in Oklahoma
I know, I know, there is maps and there is GPS, but I wasn't even following the sun...
They really know how to make salt ham in Mountain View Ar
No worries. Common mistake. I'd considered moving there, but changed my mind. Unfortunately, CD doesn't allow us to change our user names.
NH to CA then back to the east coast again? Driving anything more than 2.5-3 hours to get to Cape May is enough to drive me batty. Four hours in the car is my absolute max these days, so goodness help me if there's traffic.
lol You sound as whimsical as myself with my city selections. I love it. Keeps life exciting, doesn't it?
Every disaster, some people get judgmental and call the folks devastated from the storm idiots. Oy.
I grew up in NYC. Plenty hurricanes hit but none caused anything more than minor flooding along the coasts. They typically peter out before they get that far. Last year was Irene, which was hyped to the heavens ( rightfully so) but still managed to seem like the typical NYC hurricane before it was all over with. So it is not surprising that many people assumed this would be like all the others that came before, maybe with a little more flooding.
Even still, many many people did follow instructions and prepare. Many evacuated. But even in a hurricane prone region like Flordia, there is always SOMEONE who doesn't leave or doesn't stock up on supplies. That is human nature at work folks.
This is like getting mad at people in the Midwest who don't prepare for earthquakes. There are several major faults there and scientists say it is a matter of time before parts of the Midwest get a big quake, but I bet you money there are lots of folks who live there who are not in the least bit prepared. but they do know what to do in a tornado. In contrast, tornados can happen anywhere but I bet your average California town does not have a decent warning system, and your average Cali resident would have no idea what to do if one was approaching.
People in NYC know what to do in a blizzard. They didn't know what to do for a real hurricane. Even so, many people did heed the warnings or there would have been many more deaths than there turned out to be.
Every disaster, some people get judgmental and call the folks devastated from the storm idiots. Oy.
I grew up in NYC. Plenty hurricanes hit but none caused anything more than minor flooding along the coasts. They typically peter out before they get that far. Last year was Irene, which was hyped to the heavens ( rightfully so) but still managed to seem like the typical NYC hurricane before it was all over with. So it is not surprising that many people assumed this would be like all the others that came before, maybe with a little more flooding.
Even still, many many people did follow instructions and prepare. Many evacuated. But even in a hurricane prone region like Flordia, there is always SOMEONE who doesn't leave or doesn't stock up on supplies. That is human nature at work folks.
This is like getting mad at people in the Midwest who don't prepare for earthquakes. There are several major faults there and scientists say it is a matter of time before parts of the Midwest get a big quake, but I bet you money there are lots of folks who live there who are not in the least bit prepared. but they do know what to do in a tornado. In contrast, tornados can happen anywhere but I bet your average California town does not have a decent warning system, and your average Cali resident would have no idea what to do if one was approaching.
People in NYC know what to do in a blizzard. They didn't know what to do for a real hurricane. Even so, many people did heed the warnings or there would have been many more deaths than there turned out to be.
Nice post. I completely agree with what you said, but few natural disasters have as much notice as a hurricane and coasts are known to have hurricanes, therefore, yes, it was a huge gamble on the parts of those that did not prepare in this situation.
Yes, almost any disaster can happen almost anywhere at almost any time, however, I do believe people are less likely to expect someone in Kansas to be prepared for a volcanic eruption.
And yes, if my CA home falls to the ground due to an earthquake, that was my own fault for taking that risk. I took a gamble and I lost. Everyone knows CA is prone to earthquakes (and that very fact gives me pause to raise a family there).
But, if I buy property in Denver and it's taken out by a hurricane, well, that's a bizarre freak of nature and I'm not sure anyone would be saying I should have been prepared for that. That, to me, would be an unforeseeable tragedy.
I consider myself lucky. I grew up on a farm in the midwest and then spent over 30 years in AK. I know about natural disasters and my blueprint makes me very independent and self reliant. I have not learned wholesale dependence on the system always working as it should.
I understand the OP's point and feel for folks that have lost everything as a result of Sandy but I still for the life of me do not understand those folks on the coast that didn't evacuate in time with all of the warning and assistance that was available (unlike Katrina where assistance was pretty much absent) to them. I think like another poster said, the onset of winter multiplies the miseries sadly.
I think what grinds gears here on this forum are those that didn't lay aside a thing to help themselves in the forecasted 7-10 days without power. No extra food, no clean water, no fuel, no extra medication on hand. Now they are on television or other media saying ridiculous things in their mostly intact homes blaming everyone but themselves for their predicament. Frankly if we had a week notice of a huge earthquake in AK, I'd board, brace, turn off power, water and gas, gather the 4P's: pets, provisions, photos and papers and get the heck outta Anchorage well before the time. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way for many types of disasters.
It's a sad deal for those folks caught by Sandy regardless of the situation.
Well the deed is done. I hope that those in the area will look to Dade County standards in Florida. Construction concepts, inspections, attitudes, etc all had to be changed after Andrew. Also I saw houses built way too close together. Corrupt inspectors?
I consider myself lucky. I grew up on a farm in the midwest and then spent over 30 years in AK. I know about natural disasters and my blueprint makes me very independent and self reliant.
I understand the OP's point and feel for folks that have lost everything as a result of Sandy but I still for the life of me do not understand those folks on the coast that didn't evacuate in time with all of the warning and assistance that was available (unlike Katrina where assistance was pretty much absent) to them. I think like another poster said, the onset of winter multiplies the miseries sadly.
I think what grinds gears here on this forum are those that didn't lay aside a thing to help themselves in the forecasted 7-10 days without power. No extra food, no clean water, no fuel, no extra medication on hand. Now they are on television or other media saying ridiculous things in their mostly intact homes blaming everyone but themselves for their predicament. Frankly if we had a week notice of a huge earthquake in AK, I'd board, brace, turn off power, water and gas, gather the 4P's: pets, provisions, photos and papers and get the heck outta Anchorage well before the time. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way for many types of disasters.
It's a sad deal for those folks caught by Sandy regardless of the situation.
Agreed, and well said.
And the part I bolded is exactly the reason I think so many feel the way they do about Sandy. Most people in this country have to deal with one type of disaster or another, yet they rarely have the luxury of having as much notice as we had for Sandy. It was the easiest disaster to prepare for, yet some still did not prepare. Now again, with the exception of those with mental or physical disabilities, children, animals, etc. I have yet to hear a good reason to have not prepared. It's okay to take that gamble; I just don't think it's fair to take the gamble then point fingers later when relief isn't there to help you as quickly as you'd like it, or in the manner in which you'd like to receive it, especially when relief so far has been handled incredibly well compared to past disasters.
Nice post. I completely agree with what you said, but few natural disasters have as much notice as a hurricane and coasts are known to have hurricanes, therefore, yes, it was a huge gamble on the parts of those that did not prepare in this situation.
Yes, almost any disaster can happen almost anywhere at almost any time, however, I do believe people are less likely to expect someone in Kansas to be prepared for a volcanic eruption.
And yes, if my CA home falls to the ground due to an earthquake, that was my own fault for taking that risk. I took a gamble and I lost. Everyone knows CA is prone to earthquakes (and that very fact gives me pause to raise a family there).
But, if I buy property in Denver and it's taken out by a hurricane, well, that's a bizarre freak of nature and I'm not sure anyone would be saying I should have been prepared for that. That, to me, would be an unforeseeable tragedy.
That's just my 2 cents.
I think what I'm trying to say is not that people didn't have warning, but that "prepare for a hurricane" in NYC means "prepare not to drive anywhere for a day, maybe the trains will be down for a day, you might not be able to walk to your local bodega for 12 hours" something like that. If you live on the coast, it means "your basement might flood, maybe a window could break". No one who lives there has seen anything like what happened not only in thier lifetime, but thier parents or grandparents lifetime. even last year, when all people heard for days was BIG CATASTOPHE COMING!!!!!..... It was pretty much like every single hurricane anyone remembered but with more flooding. I'm not even sure there was much in the way of power outages. People who were told to evacuate did and some of them came back to find thier houses had been broken into while they were gone. So what people here are expecting is that most NY/NJ types would magically realize that this time was the time that they had to prepare for a week's worth of no food or power, this was the time they should not care about someone looting thier house, this was the time they would not even have a house to come back to.... even the people who live in areas where they don't normally even flood. It has never happened in that region before even when forecasters said it could. But still, lots of people did actually listen or the entire neighborhood of Breezy Point would have died in a fire among other things. So I think that people are being a bit hard on the residents of the area, especially since the evidence is most people did prepare and are helping each other out as best they can.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
