The poor and vulnerable are always the most at risk:
The residents of Staten Island are pleading for help from elected officials, begging for gasoline, food and clothing three days after Sandy slammed the New York City borough.
“We’re going to die! We’re going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!” Donna Solli told visiting officials. “You don’t understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It’s been three days!”
Staten Island was one of the hardest-hit communities in New York City. More than 80,000 residents are still without power. Many are homeless, and at least 19 people died on Staten Island because of the storm.
One of the devastated neighborhoods was overwhelmed by a violent surge of water. Residents described a super-sized wave as high as 20 feet, with water rushing into the streets like rapids.
Staten Island resident Mike Abuzzio’s home is completely gone, with only his floor boards remaining. He, his wife and their two young daughters have been staying with relatives.
“My youngest daughter yesterday said, ‘Daddy, I want to go,'” Abuzzio told ABC News. “I told her, ‘It’s going to be awhile, hon.’ She doesn’t understand. She’s 6.”
Hopefully the past few days have put paid to the idea that government is evil and must be shrunk down to nothing so that “we” can afford … I don’t know, other stuff? Non-government things? Drones? A fucking marathon (are you kidding me with this)? Another party for rich people? When people call for aid, who do you think responds? The national fucking guard, the city and state and national agencies, so you starve them, and the cries for help go unanswered.
It keeps happening, and we keep doing every fucking thing we can do to avoid learning.
A.
Of course, a big problem with various events to raise money is that the resources were needed a week before the storm in order to make them available **NOW**!!. While I applaud those who are hosting fundraisers (as a way of back-filling the money which has already been spent so that there are resources for the next event) to have a concert (even if already scheduled) and get the resources out will take time.
Especially love the Marathon. To plan the marathon and get it done will take at least a year. Not to mention the drain on resources (police to cover the route, etc.) resources that should be used to cover the immediate problem.
Aaargh! can’t edit above that my point is that you’ve got to have a substantial fund to draw from immediately. and the govt is one of the few that can send in the troops now and worry about it later.
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Evil Govt.?
A lot of what we are seeing is a combination of infrastructure that was put in place before current codes along with a patchwork quilt of codes ranging from complete lesse faire to some areas of heavy handed codes.
Should be clear that the NJ regulations on levees (or lack thereof) built a hundred years ago impacts the Federal Interstates central to the movement of goods (including relief supplies) – essentially the levees of NJ holding the rest of the NE hostage.
We live in a global community. Why such a surprise that what one community does impacts the others?
Admittedly, I’m a little touchy on the subject both from living in a hurricaine prone area (Coastal SC) as well as a local politico running for MO house calling for road maintenenance to be turned over to the individual cities and counties.
I know people on Statten Island desperately need help. Logistics make immediate help impossible on a large scale. Weren’t all people on Statten Island required to evacuate. Isn’t the ferry just getting going again today. I recall people being warned before the storm that if they chose to stay that help would not be immediately available. It seems that a great deal has been done in a short period of time especially considering the huge area of damage and the number of people involved.
I wish Govenors around the country would mobilize guard troops to assist people with cleanup of trees and demolished property. One problem that I have not heard mentioned is where is all that debris going to go. Believe me from our flooding experiences land fills do not have room. The amount of debris is decades worth of normal waste.
I do agree that running the marathon is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
I was involved in a major flood in 2011. A town of 60,000 flooded. Most displaced residents went to other areas to stay with friends and family. No one died. Everyone heeded the mandatory evacuation orders. We had hours to get out. There was no time for building dikes or making preperations. We were not allowed back in for a long time to even see our homes. It was over a year until many people knew if they would be allowed to rebuild or renovate due to the flood plain. There is still major devastation and it will be years before everything gets fixed. People that needed them did get fema trailers but it was October before the first ones were setup. over four months from the day of the flood. Many people are still in them as they wait for other housing to be built. People whose houses were flooded received a maximum of $33,000 from fema per residence. Only 400 houses had flood insurance. There was no regular insurance as flooding is not covered. At least there wind and rain damage should be covered by insurance.
Why do I have a picture of Grover Norquist trying to drown a shrunken government in a hurricane driven tidal surge?