First, let me reassure everyone that I and everyone in my immediate family came through Hurricane Sandy with no serious problems. My building is well outside any flood zones, and we never lost power during or after the storm. There are a few downed trees and branches throughout the neighborhood, but none that threatened me or mine. My mother’s building in Manhattan is also not in a flood zone and also never lost power.
The biggest challenge post-storm has been getting around the city. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the NYC subway system took it on the chin, with most of the tunnels connecting Manhattan with Brooklyn and Queens (especially those in downtown Manhattan) completely flooded out—some completely filled with sea-water up to the ceilings. De-watering efforts have been continuous and spectacular, but the loss of power in lower Manhattan meant that even with tunnels pumped out, trains had no juice to run. As of Friday (Nov 2), limited service was running on a few subway lines north of 34th Street—including, thankfully, the F train which runs out to my neighborhood and which uses a tunnel from Queens to Manhattan that escaped any flooding.
Meanwhile, surface bus service was re-started the day after the storm. As you can imagine, the buses have been packed with long lines on the major routes that parallel suspended subway lines. Add to this a very heavy increase in automobile traffic as commuters took to the roads due to suspended commuter rail services, and you can imagine the horrible gridlock that ensued. Traffic has eased somewhat thanks to HOV3+ restrictions placed on most of the major bridges and tunnels (those that weren’t flooded out anyway), but that adds yet another complication to getting around.
But all of this is really a minor inconvenience in relation to the devastation visited on other areas of the city, especially Staten Island and the Rockaways. I’m fortunate to have suffered no loss of life, health or property, and my thoughts and prayers go out to those who have, and still are, suffering so terribly.
