New Jersey/New York region headcount

[steve8462]

can we get a shout out from our brothers in the super storm region to make sure everybody is well and accounted for? maybe you have some wild stories and pictures that you can share.

[wikkid]

Pix are on my phone, not transferred yet, but not very sensational. We are ok. Lots of others on Long Island are without power, and dealing with flooding issues. The winds were less than hurricane force, and the rain here was not as heavy as Irene's last year. But that's only my local take on it - not sure how things are up island, and closer to NY and on the Jersey shore.

[surfingfreeman]

The Jersey shore got hammered, my Gramps has a place and we use to go there every summer so sweet, now mother nature has created 2 new inlets from the ocean to the bay, global warming at it's finest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdmZ-qIX ... ata_player

[4uall]

so I guess after the final season of Jersey Shore, Mother Nature made sure the cast would never come back Okay bad joke, glad to hear everyone is okay

[steve8462]

making a reality show/documentary out of the rebuilding of New York/New Jersey would make for some very interesting television and do wonders for the local tourism industry.

[4uall]

I did see a Spike Lee documentary on New Orleans that was really interesting “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts”

[surfingfreeman]

Interesting commentary on the matter
http://once.unicornmedia.com/now/od/aut ... zone=22789

[steve8462]

very interesting video. he is right. we need to look at climate change as an international threat rather than a political issue. if Al Gore was a Rhodes Scholar and not a politician i think people would take him more seriously. there is no need or time for finger pointing and acusations, everybody on the planet is guilty of causing this in some small way or another. the problem is politicians will shy away from unpopular topics because they dont want to chance damaging their career. we need to get past the ignorance and the "head in the sand attitude!" we have a small window of opportunity to get this thing slowly turned in the right direction, but it will be an uphill climb because of the middle east. they survive mostly on money generated from oil! the biggest offender! also third world nations that barely have laws covering basic human rights are many, many years from having a government that can enforce environment protection laws. they are harvesting and burning away the rainforest at an alarming rate which has a huge impact on climate and weather patterns. what they are doing cannot be reversed at any cost or frame of time. i think we need to live our lifes to the fullest and with as small of a carbon footprint as possible because the way things are going, i fear our young children might be staring down the barrel of the "end of days"

[Exit98]

This is the first opportunity I’ve had to be on the internet since we lost power at about 11:00 AM Monday morning, as we awaited Sandy’s strike. I’m at my sister’s house today, she has the most advanced solar system money can buy, and is one of the very few houses with power, other than those running generators of one sort or another.

We are all safe and sound, including our extended family. It is getting colder at night and with no light, TV, internet and so forth it gets pretty boring.

Those of us along the coast, but not “on” the coast, as well as many millions of others in the mid-Atlantic region, remain without power. When power will be restored is anyone’s guess. Power companies are putting out numbers like 8 days to two weeks around here.

We are 2 miles from the ocean so the unprecedented ocean surge didn’t reach us. Wind damage though was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. Huge trees have fallen everywhere. Street after street is blocked by downed trees and power poles. Monday night during the height of the storm transformers exploded like so many July 4th fireworks. Block after block, town after town, roads are blocked, there are no traffic lights, and when somehow a gas station manages to open lines form like those from 1972. In our area they must notify the police before opening and the police are immediately on hand to manage the lines.

Without traffic lights driving is a challenge although in general it’s been pretty good. Locally wending your way from place to place requires much to and fro-ing as so many streets are blocked by trees and downed lines. On the main roads all intersections are blocked so no left turns are permitted. Approaching a main street you are only permitted to turn right; no left turn and no crossing through. In New Jersey we are one of the few states where we do not make U turns at intersections and so forth, which is so routine in other parts of our country, so to change direction there is much turning into parking lots, closed gas stations and so forth now in order to change direction.

Food stores are open and seem to be getting fresh supplies, since west of us things aren’t as bad. Ice is hard to find although the National Guard was giving some out this morning so I got 3 bags. We’ve already thrown out most of our refrigerated food, but like I said you can get food so eating isn’t an issue, in fact it’s one of the few things to do. I think I’ll probably put on 50 lbs. before this is over, and my gym is closed too.

I hope none of this sounds like wining, these issues are nothing but minor inconvenences.

The damage to the coastal towns of New Jersey exceeds anything I’ve seen in my life, and I’ve lived here for 65 years. Whole communities have been wiped out. Homes and businesses from 2 blocks to maybe a 1/8th of a mile inland in some cases are gone. Our beautiful barrier islands are destroyed, the homes on the bay sides are said to have suffered as much or more than those on the ocean.

The storm surge hit here at just about the time of a full moon high tide. The sustained winds from the Northwest during the previous tides didn’t allow the water to drain from the coast and the back bays so each new tide built up from the previous. It was almost like a tsunami.

My aunt has a home about three blocks from the ocean. It was built a few years ago based on new building requirements and so it is built on concrete pilings with a foundation more than 5 feet high. The water mark on her garage door, which is on ground level, is 5 feet high. Her home suffered minor damage, the water which filled up the area beneath the house soaked and destroyed all her floor insulation, and her heating and cooling duct work is damaged. Some other minor stuff too. The point is however, every other home on her block, built near ground level had 5 feet of water sweep into the front and out the back. They are all badly damaged and in some cases destroyed.

The area immediately east of her, separated by a narrow lagoon, and closer the ocean is cordoned off by the police. Even home owners are not permitted in yet. Beach sand fills the streets. There are rumors that people are missing but I’m not sure that is true. South of us the damage is worse, and in the days following gas explosions and fires broke out. Yesterday all gas lines serving those areas were shut down, another hardship for anyone still living in those areas, if anyone still is.

[baltobernie]

Great to hear from you, Doug. I'm glad you and your extended family are OK. Along with millions of others, we have many fond memories of vacationing "down the shore". One B&B has been home to generations of us.

For those of you unfamiliar with the area, folks state their domicile as the Garden State Parkway exit number they use to drive home. We vacation at Exit 0, Doug is 98 miles up the coast, with yet another 30 remaining before New York. Extrapolate Doug's tale to all 127 miles of the Shore, and you can get some idea of the epic nature of this disaster. BTW, New Jersey, not New York, is the most densely populated state in the Union.

[mdrburchette]

Thanks for the update, Doug. It sounds like a nightmare for many in your area, but I'm glad to hear you and yours are safe and sound.

[dmwhiteoak]

Glad to hear you and yours fared well. Was thinking of all of you in the storms path on Monday as it was blowing through. We here in Texas know first hand of the hardships these storms create.