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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

What the cameras don’t see



I’m curious to see how the storm Sandy areas are going to be weeks and months from now. Once the first excitement is over, the cameras go away. The damage doesn’t.

Bodies were being discovered in New Orleans long after the news crews had moved on.

One thing to remember is that we are only seeing the damage because someone has been able to take photos and video. Some areas won’t get any coverage, even though they were affected.

Friends who live in Florida told me stories of an illegal migrant camp that hurricane Andrew wiped out. Few knew they were there and no one reported them missing. The officials weren’t too interested in finding out what happened to them.

Vermont was still repairing damage from last year’s hurricane Irene. Next time I’m over there I’ll have to see what the new storm has done to the recovery efforts. Irene was last year’s news, but some people are still living it every day. Recovering from a disaster that totally upsets your life takes time. Some wounds never heal.

I thought I’d spend the day doing post storm clean up. Through a combination of good planning and luck, there’s nothing to clean up. Anything that could have become airborne had either been taken inside or tied down.

This is a good time to review disaster preparations and to critique our performance. About the only major hole in my planning has been for the dog. I though I had a lot more dog food at the house than I did. Of course, she would have been very happy to eat table scraps indefinitely. That pup is spoiled as it is.

I’ve traveled most of the hurricane Sandy impact area over the years. I’ve photos and my memories on how things used to be. There are a lot of places that must be different now. Already some of those places have shown up on news sites. Others will never be on the National news. Those I’ll like to check out for myself.

For preppers, the story has just begun. How will people deal with the aftermath? When the cameras have moved on to cover the next celebrity, some of us will want to know how regular people are coping.

-Sixbears








14 comments:

  1. Guess all we can do is pray for the living at this point. The dead will suffer here no more.

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    1. They may suffer no more, but best they not be forgotten.

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  2. I knew a few folks down the Pine barrens way. If they try to weather the storm there, I doubt they made it.

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    1. I know people there too. Hope they were smart enough to get the heck out. With friends and family scattered all over the world, someone I know somewhere is ususally in a danger zone.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Sorry, my first message didn't display properly, so I deleted it.

    I lived through many hurricanes, the worst for us was Andrew. My childhood home was totally gone, the only thing left was the foundation. The house we were living in at the time the roof lifted off the house (but didn't blow away),old trees were no long standing, boats flew through the air and cars were thrown like toys, we prepared because we had a week to do so with the notice provided by the National Weather Service and Hurricane Center. We put up shutters, nailed plywood, brought things in the house from outside. Food, water,light, money and additional prep and we were set. We went to other family/friends homes to help them prepare for the storm. With hurricanes you have plenty of warnings to leave, prepare and secure. I just wish people would pay attention to the weather reports for their areas, and be prepared. Stop thinking, oh this won't affect me.

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    1. Andrew was horrific.

      At least we have some warning with hurricanes so there's no excuse for being totally unprepared.

      When we see people who ignore all the warnings for something as huge as a hurricane, it's no wonder we can't warn them about other problems.

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  4. A little planning and preparation in good weather saves a lot of clean up afterward.

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    1. indeed it does. I thought I'd be a lot busier after the storm, but there's almost nothing to take care of.

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  5. Glad to hear you guys didn't have any real issues up at Cedar Pond. I was pretty lucky as well, with the trees i have in my back yard i didnt have any broken branches. We were incredibly lucky in our area compared to other places that were in the direct path of the storm.

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    1. Glad your trees are fine too. We lucked out for sure.

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  6. Proper prepping seems to have taken care of your clean-up and mother nature gave you a big break on the rest!

    Glad all is in good shape in your neck of the woods!

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    1. The whole North Country of NH suffered very little damage. We lucked out.

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  7. I remember those grey days you are talking about from when I lived Pennsylvania. It was depressing when there was no new fallen snow or a hunting season.

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