Weather Woes
Well, it was grim, Hurricane Sandy. We were prepared for something bad, but this storm, as we were warned, turned out to be like nothing I had ever seen. Yesterday, I posted some alarming charts describing the amount of extra water that had piled up in Long Island Sound and the extraordinary air pressure that Sandy was bringing along. Then I saw this last night, a couple of hours before high tide:
Amazing. We went back to our neighborhood this morning — it was a circuitous route, given all the downed trees and power lines. It was a devastating scene. Many houses were simply bashed in, crushed by the power of the waves. Even more (like ours, alas) were seriously flooded.
I’m sure there’s a moral here somewhere, probably having to do with hubris, nemesis, or some other unpleasant Greek offering. Or maybe it has to do with that old quip, Do you want to make the gods laugh? Tell them your plans.
Now for the Big Cleanup!
Also read: The Climate-Change Ambulance Chasers
We must hope that this will be the remembered as the Storm of the Century, with no rival until January 2100.
Roger, As a Floridian who lived through three hurricanes in 2004 and another in 2005, I hope our utility guys are sent north, as yours were sent south in 2004-05 to help restore normalcy. Your guys (Con Edison I believe), did a great job for us. I hope we return the favor. My best wishes for you in regards to your home owners insurance policy and your “hurricane deductible”. Our damages have to exceed seven percent of the structures fair market value before the insurance company is liable. Good luck.
I share your distress, Roger, fraternally; but am glad that you are all safe and sound. We were lucky, here in Hingham, MA and in this emergency generator-equipped retirement facility (old age home) One point of comfort I am able to convey: whatever sins of your commission (e.g., hubris) or omission you may speculate about, this mess at Chez Kimball had nothing to do with you or the other innocents named Kimball. It’s just idiot politics ignoring obvious evil that Providence is mad at.
That’s the attitude, pick up the pieces and get back to work. You’ve got cleanup and recovery, but folks like me in Louisiana and Florida go through this regularly. It should be fairly easy, at least you’ve got paved roads, don’t have to negotiate a swamp. You’ll be fine. Get to work.
Good luck with your cleanup, and glad to hear that your house remained standing. Please remember to boil and filter any tapwater you have to drink between now and when the lines can be re-chlorinated.
“I’m sure there’s a moral here somewhere…”
That history repeats. Weather history, anyway. Long Island takes these hits periodically.
Good luck, Roger. Hope you have power, or will soon.
So now you people up north can just stop telling me how stupid I was to move to Florida where the hurricanes are.
Obama’s arrogance provoked the wrath of “Romnesia” on the blue states.
“In Greek mythology, Nemesis (Greek, Νέμεσις), also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia…”
The moral is that full funding for weather science (our weather satellite program is in serious trouble, to cite one example) pays. http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2012/10/this-was-their-finest-hour.html
I’m sorry to hear that. But happy to hear you had the sense to get out. Things can be replaced. People can’t.
I’m sorry for your damage. And no, this is like nothing you’ve ever seen. Perhaps you could come to Louisiana every few years.
Rest assured, if we can come back (repeatedly!), so can you. It will be trying, but nothing you can’t handle.
When it get to you, and it will, just remember The Grey Man’s patented recovery process:
Left.
Right.
Repeat.
It does not matter is the step you take today is a big one or a baby one. Just make a step each day, and keep stepping. Before you know it, you’ll be back to your usual. A little older, a little wiser, but back to your normal.
Best of luck to you.
We are all glad you decided in the end to go to a motel, and that your house survived intact. Major flooding in the house is a huge pain, I know from experience. Hard to face after work every day and hard to fix. I have one piece of advice; contact a contractor as soon as possible if you need one to repair ductwork, drywall, flooring or insulation. By the time we contacted someone they were so busy they were not answering their phones. There just aren’t that many contractors around and they will be extremely busy.
Good luck and as hard as it is to believe now, one day all of this will make for an interesting story.
According to the Hurricane Andrew protocol, you are now supposed to fashion a sign on the roof of your house – maybe from strips of bedsheets – that reads something like “Obama where are you?”
P.S. Glad the Kimball household is OK even if the Kimball house suffered.
California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Co. already has crews headed your way.
You’re in our prayers and prayer intentions.
Hurricane Katrina ate our everything. We renovated and moved back in last year. Despite the optimism, you will find that not everything can be replaced. Many important, irreplaceable things cannot. But they are, after all, just things. Keep your head up as you’re emptying your house of your water-logged everything. You shall endure. You shall rebuild. You shall yet thrive. God bless.
imagine if Sandy had hit before the era of satellite-based forecasting.
Roger, I want to apologize to you personally. I made a crass comment on a previous post you wrote about the storm piking right down Broadway, then swirling around the White House for a few days, as I have no love loss for Manhattan or D.C., both whom I believed have enriched themselves at the expense of the rest of America.
However, to the millions of innocents affected by the storm, that was a heartless and stupid statement. And I should know better as I’ve lived through two floods myself. It is miserable and I am sorry for your loss. I would personally clean for you, if I lived within proximity instead of 1,500 miles away.
You’re one of my favorites here at PJM. It was meant to be said in jest, and was not one of my finer moments.
Roger:
With all due respect to the loss of life and property, this was NOT a “SuperStorm.” Yes, it was physically extensive, covering a very large area but in terms of energy released it was relatively small compared to other storms that have hit America. I take exception to the government and media “hype” about this storm not because it wasn’t dangerous and costly, but because I question what they are going to do and say when a REAL “SuperStorm” approaches.
This was a Category ONE storm with maximum winds of 90 MPH at landfall and significantly lower than that in most areas (one report I saw had the maximum gust in NYC at 63 MPH but that could be wrong after more information becomes available). Andrew, a Category FIVE storm, had sustained winds in excess of 160 MPH on landfall. Having lived through both Andrew and Wilma in Miami I can attest that Sandy, while it covered a large area, is most certainly NOT the most powerful storm ever, not a “SuperStorm” by any stretch of the imagination.
My concern is not to diminish the impact on people in the area, the death, flooding and property damage are certainly significant and it will linger for quite some time. My problem is that presenting people with the “SuperStorm” argument is not doing them any great service. They have been through a very bad storm but they NEED to know that this was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. When the “big one”, a Cat FOUR or FIVE approaches, and it will because it has in the past, people in your part of the world need to understand that it isn’t just “a bit bigger,” “a bit more powerful,” than Sandy, it is orders of magnitude more deadly. And it will make “SuperStorm” Sandy look like a breezy afternoon.
This caused me to do something I never have done, look up defensive pitching stats. Hellickson’s and Peavy’s were good but nothing stood out.