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Saturday, November 3, 2012

Can’t leave this alone



The ongoing mess created by hurricane Sandy confirms a number of things I’ve been saying for years now. Of course, the big one is to get the heck out of big cities. For me, that means don’t live in one. Other people like cities. Good for them. Don’t like them so much that you don’t leave when trouble’s coming.

Imagine how much of a mess things would be should an unforeseen disaster happen? People had plenty of warning. It would have been worse if they didn’t. Look at the boatlift that took people off Manhattan Island during 911. When the towers came down, that was actually a very limited area of disaster. Horrific for the people there, but in reality a tiny geographical area.

Don’t depend on government to save you. I could not believe that cops are being assigned to help out with a marathon when there are still looters in the streets. The NY National Guard almost was sent to an exercise in Missouri, even though they knew the storm was coming. It was only at the last minute that they were assigned to the real disaster. That’s just a sampling. I could go on.

Connecticut closed the Interstate highways. So much for bugging out at the last minute. If that’s your plan, leave early. A good road atlas is worth its weight in gold. Don’t rely on a GPS that assumes the roads are all open. Be aware of choke points like bridges and mountain passes. Knowing the back roads doesn’t do much good of you can’t cross major rivers or get to the other side of the mountains.

Some people had generators. Some of those generators worked. Often people die because they don’t vent them properly. A noisy generator tells people you have power and probably other supplies too. Most people with generators run out of fuel to run them in a day or two. Refueling can be difficult or impossible.

People have to provide their own security. New York and New Jersey have very strict gun laws. That doesn’t seem to have hampered the criminals much. Nice for them that most of their victims are unarmed.

How many people lack basic tools and materials to do repairs? How many people don’t know how to fix things. Being able to secure a good tarp over missing roof shingles will save thousands of dollars of damage.

I thought I was don’t writing about Sandy, but I can’t. I have to point and say, “There, I told you so!”

I really hope people learn from these things, hopefully with as little suffering as possible.

With any luck I’m done venting about this. It’s hard when hugely stupid things keep coming to light.

-Sixbears



16 comments:

  1. People don't seem to learn from history.
    And what they do learn, they quickly forget.
    Sandy is now part of America's history.
    Maybe they'll remember for a while...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some will remember, but most will pretend this sort of thing will never happen again.

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  2. Update: I see the marathon was canceled due to public outcry. Some things are too much, even for New Yorkers.

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  3. And they expect the government to fix everything right away instead of doing it themselves.

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    Replies
    1. It's what they were taught to expect, but anyone with eyes open should know better.

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  4. Good advice, especially to get out of the cities. Unfortunately people only learn when they want to. I have family in NJ. Last year, most of them lost power. Despite our urging, only 1 of them was prepared when they lost power again this year.

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    Replies
    1. I wonder if more will be prepared next year? When "once in a lifetime" events happen every year, people should get a clue.

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  5. You're right, percentage-wise, a handful will learn, the rest will continue to wallow in their ignorance.

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    Replies
    1. Disturbing, when the price of ignorance could be death.

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  6. The only reason I would leave my place is that it does not make sense to get both homes destroyed when one has wheels and a motor.

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  7. Yep, a big "I told you so". Most of those dinks will quickly forget when its all over and go right back to sleep. Future Darwin Award recipients...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A fair number have already gotten their Darwin awards.

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  8. sandy bite my ass too damn well

    fortunatly not fatally

    Wildflower

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad it wasn't fatal. Hope things are going better now.

      Care to share any details?

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  9. 14 inches of water surged in with tide into basement

    lost a lot of stuff due to water....

    but at least it cleaned the back yard....

    ho ho ho

    Wildflower

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    Replies
    1. Sorry for the things you lost. At least you are all right -and still have your sense of humor.

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