Hang in there Clark, and everybody else. May you shove poo many years to come :rollhappy:
I talked to my mom yesterday for the first time since the storm hit (her phone was down all week and she is technologically "challenged"). She lives well north of NYC in Peekskill, NY and said that conditions even there were very bad. In her words, "I can't ever remember any storm with this kind of power coming here". She's 79 and has a scary good memory.
She said that trees were down everywhere, the power was off for many folks (luckily not her), constant rainy conditions for over a week, "the worst winds I've ever experienced in my life", and on down the road. Moreover, folks are syphoning gas since there is a shortage. It seems like the days back in the early 70s during the embargo. My sister can get to work, but she barely has enough gas to get there and then runs the risk someone will take what little is left in her tank to get home!
As for the folks on the Jersey Shore and the hard hit parts of the city, my heart goes out to them. Storms like this can't really be planned for completely (nearly a 14 foot surge at the Battery!). What this storm tells me is that our system of things is delicate, easily damaged, and not to be taken for granted. The great earthquake and tsunami that happened here last year had the same message - modern society lives in a precarious balance with "nature".