The Mass. Maritime Academy is deploying it's training ship KENNEDY (What else?) to New York to be used as a floating barracks for relief workers. It can sleep over 700, but is expected to house something around 300. It will provide beds, hot showers, and hot meals as required. On a maritime note - Boston has received several cruise ships that were scheduled to arrive in New York. The destination was changed as New York really does not have the facilities to service the big cruise ships and their passengers at the present moment.
I saw where some of the maritime guys are using their pumps to remove water from the tunnels. Those are tough guys and I suspect you will see some progress soon. I saw the Air Force is flyng in equipment from California. There is a Nor'easter predicted for the middle of next week so time is of the essence. Many of those houses are not going to be saved. They will have to remove what is left and start over.
My son-in-law went over to the Sag Harbor house to cut up my fallen trees, we have power back on.......yeah !!! I'll be heading back out there tomorrow to clean-up all the branches and get the place back to normal for my wife. Thank God we lucked out this time.
Wife works for the Fuel industry on Long Island. All fuel terminals are awaiting deliveries via tankers. Tankers were allowed in by the USCG last night and LI will have fuel by the end of the weekend. HOWEVER. I suggest everyone make it a "stay in" weekend. If you are still on Generator power I can understand, but as for anything else, give it till Monday if you can. I live across the street from one of the last stations that had gas last night and it was a mad house. Luckily I have power and the cable came back on last night. This was the first time I saw the damage on the TV since the storm hit. :shock: Words cannot express what I feel for my fellow Islanders who have suffered tremendous losses. (I understand and feel for everyone hit- but this is just so close to home, about a mile due south was crushed). If anyone needs to warm up, take a shower or just juice up their phone, let me know.
I watched an interesting interview on The Weather Channel last night. The interviewee was in charge of pumping out a large tunnel. He said that you can't just get a huge pump, drop the intake hose in the trapped water, and let 'er go. The water has to be removed relatively slowly so that internal pressures remain equal. If water is removed too rapidly, the tunnel could collapse. Tunnels are designed to withstand external, not internal pressure. Translation: It's gonna take awhile to get all of the wet tunnels emptied.
They better get gas flowing VERY shortly ... night time temps are going to be about 10 deg colder. Tthose using generators but cant get gas are getting Pissed. Nothing new by me - my 2-3 block area is a ray of light in a sea of darkness. Feeling bad about not doing anything to help, my wife and I rode our bikes around immediate 6-7 block neighborhood identifying several elderly that are still in the dark with no help. None wanted to leave their homes. We made and delivered hot soup to 3 ... brought fresh batteries for flashlites and radio and setup a couple others with neighbors nearby who have generators and agreed to help. Pledged to continue visiting them until power returns. ... just trying to do a bit to help after sitting around for days feeling hopeless watching the news and seeing the despair What is really amazing is that those that have no power really have no news or updates and no idea of how bad things really are
Alan -- that is great that you and your neighbors are doing this. It is critical that progress be made by this weekend so preparations can be made for next week. The same model I used to kick off this thread about Sandy, when it was still around JAMAiCA (ECMWF), shows a Nor'easter strike up the east coast next week by Wednesday. http://www.ecmwf.int/products/forec...a!pop!od!oper!public_plots!2005101800!!!step/
My girlfriend said the family evacuated her 98 year old great grandmother from Narragansett to the aunts house further upstate in RI. The aunts house lost power for a while thanks to a tree down on some wires, but the damage down by the bay made them think it was still a wise move to relocate the grandmother. As far as I know she's still not back home yet. No word on the damage from the flooding down there. This woman has now survived quite a few of the "big ones" in New England
Check out these before and after Sandy aerial shots: http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/before-after-images-sandy-20121102
Decautur Utilities sent 50 trucks up from Alabama, drove two days to new Jersey, only to be turned away because they arent union workers. They were run out of town and called "scabs".
How stupid and petty. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Sounds like the officials in Louisiana who turned down federal aid after Katrina. You would think people would appreciate the help. As for the gasoline situation, Fox News said this morning that 60% of the gas stations in NJ and 70% of those on Long Island were closed. They said that while a lot of the stations actually had gas they did not have the electricity needed to power the pumps to pull in out of the tanks.
Wonder how many of those union workers drive an imported non union car or truck. Sad thing for turning away people who are willing to help.
All good here in PA. Seemed like we were in the middle of the 'former' eye after the initial blows of the storm. Weird... got calm all at once with no wind or rain. This storm was bad for many though. Hope all of you on the coast are fairing well and can soon get back to some sense of normalcy. It may be a long road ahead. God bless.
Spoke to Eric today. His house got water up to the countertops. And to make matters worse, the fuel oil from the tanks spilled so everything stinks of diesel. Power is on, but he's afraid to turn it on for fear of setting his house on fire. He likened his neighborhood to Beruit. The looters are now out at night and he's keeping a close watch on his house and belongings overnight he told me all the boats that people pulled out of the water are now piled up like cord wood at the local marina.
The lines were literally insane today. Lines so long, the gas station wasnt even in sight. All those cars on the shoulder are waiting in a line. The station is about a 1/2 mile away. My wife got home from work at 2:30am and she said the line at Hess was still going.
Hang on up there folks you will make it out of this challenging time. I hope and pray for all in those hard hit areas. Even though I had 35" of water at my beach house it was only in the garage only lost my spare beer fridge . was able to clean it all up in a day. Helped a couple older folks on my block, lent some my power washer. Helped dig out sand from couple places up by the beach all day today. I am dead tired! Couple beers and I'll be asleep !
No gas shortage for the Mooneys. My sons do about 10-15 junk cars a day and we have 5 trucks we need to keep running. The phone is ringing with people who need to get rid of damaged cars from this hurricaine. Before we bring them to the salvage yard to be crushed, they punch a hole in the gas tanks and drain the gas into gas cans. Today was good for about 60 gallons. Got to keep our trucks fueled so our guys can work and make money. I think this might be the norm for the future, gotta save a buck any way you can. P.S., the retail car sales is rapidly picking up also.
