The Superstorm Sandy pummeled Great Neck with some of the highest winds and highest storm surge, and yet, we were spared the worst. Yes, massive trees came down and some homes were damaged and cars crushed, but overall, the physical damage was less than the microburst that wreaked such havoc in a matter of minutes.
Here on the North Shore the damage was mainly from the wind; on the South Shore, the damage came from the waves that brought ocean and sand deep inland, destroying property.
And yet, the effects of Sandy were felt much more widely and for longer because of the power outage, extending for more than a week after the storm moved on.
For more than a week, we suffered without lights, heat, telephones and television, computers and Internet. We had that uncomfortable, disorienting sense of being cut off entirely.
It felt like camping out in one’s own house – having to make-do, problem solve, figure out placement of flashlights when you first came into the house, and what you would do to take care of the most basic aspects of survival.
Bundling up under two quilts, wearing sweatshirt and fleece, hat and gloves and slippers at night as the temperature dropped as the week wore on.
Surviving in suburbia, in zip codes among the most affluent in the world. The notion seems absurd, but humbling.
But we were really lucky because there was the oasis of light, communication, connectivity and activity right here at Great Neck Plaza (Starbucks and the Great Neck Station Library were hubs of the hub) – so you really didn’t have to go far in order to find yourself back in civilization.
And ultimately, our suffering was mitigated because there was the assurance that this misery would end. It was just a matter of when.
But what if the light and power would not return?
At times like this, I purposely visualize was like for people who could see no end to the deprivation and misery – people in war, people in concentration camps (it wasn’t hard, after seeing “Mother of Normandy” during the Gold Coast International Film Festival, which lucky wound up just as Hurricane Sandy was winding up).
It isn’t entirely implausible – there could be a catastrophic destruction to our power grid, which we now depend upon so utterly – that wouldn’t be remedied in a week, a month, even a year or more. If anything, Superstorm Sandy showed how vulnerable we are.
This brush with our vulnerability also makes you realize what – and who – we take for granted.
Just about everything, in fact.
We take all the things that collectively make our community and society and civilization for granted. Those who live in high-rises without power are discovering how amazing the engineering is to make the toilets flush.
We tend to take for granted, too, the people who toil day in and day out to make our “society” – our “civilization” – possible: the sanitation workers, the utility crews, the mail carriers, the truckers, the gas station people.
I watch as a group of people wave to the utility trucks as they go by, showing their appreciation. This weekend, I saw crews from Rocky Mount and New Bern, North Carolina, and from Alabama in our area. I hailed one fellow from Rocky Mount working on West Shore Road in Kings Point and said “Welcome to Great Neck,” and he said he wished he could see it when it wasn’t so messed up. I told him he could see where George M. Cohan lived just beyond where he was working, and added after his look, “The fellow who wrote ‘Over There.’”
We also take for granted – when everything works like clockwork – our elected officials. People are so cynical and jaded about government, but our discomfort when things stop working is a reminder that the engines, the wheels, the gears and cogs of our society depend on individuals, the decisions they make and the skills, the talent and work ethic they bring.
In that vein, we have to give kudos to North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman who masterfully led the restoration effort for our town of 230,000 people (the fifth largest town in the country).
Kaiman regularly kept us updated with reverse 911 phone calls, providing updates on services and information on where to get help. He was aggressive in getting the FEMA, LIPA and state troopers into the town, in using the innovative 311 system to get people the help they needed. (North Hempstead is probably the only suburban community with an urban-style 311 information system.)
Kudos also to Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth who kept us updated with really, really important and helpful information – contact telephone numbers and updates – with e-mails.
At times like this, what people really, really need is information – giving some sense of the progress being made in restoring power, and information where to get assistance they need, or where to go to file an application with FEMA.
Missing in action, from my point of view, was Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. Mangano left a couple of reverse 911 messages but I did not see him really being a strong advocate with LIPA or providing that assurance to residents that the guy at the top should be providing. I got an initial reverse 911 message that spoke about the shelters that would be open, and then days later, a message that said not to use generators inside the house.
Most people complain because they don’t see what is going on behind the scenes, but I got to see how well our elected officials have performed during this emergency at the Great Neck Village Officials Association meeting just two days after Sandy hit.
Just having such an association – where our officials meet to discuss issues and collaborate when necessary and where possible – is unusual. Congressman Steve Israel was supposed to be the speaker, but he had to be in his office to receive a conference call from FEMA. Instead, the mayors and commissioners of special districts got to hear what Kaiman and his Director of Emergency Management Tom McDonought were doing.
It was interesting to hear how after Hurricane Irene, Kaiman realized that an impediment to getting the lights back on expeditiously was that it required both an electrical crew and a crew to cut down the trees, and somehow, both didn’t come together. So Kaiman had the idea to have town DPW guys “shadow” the LIPA utility trucks. At first, LIPA wasn’t too thrilled, but then made it the modus operandi.
This was also a test – and an affirmation- of the town’s innovative 311 system. How many people realize how innovative it is for a suburban community to have a 311 system, which is more typically in an urban setting like New York City?
By Wednesday, just two days after the storm, Kaiman said the town’s 311 emergency number had already fielded 11,000. It is manned 24/7 by town workers and volunteers (even Nassau County legislator Judi Bosworth manned the phones for a time). Even Mangano gave out the 311 number as a general number for county residents to call for information.
As a result, people were calling from all over Long Island and even New York city, and the town operators did their best to provide information – where shelters were located, which gas stations were open, where to call someone to cut down a tree.
“We are getting calls from all over Long Island, New York City, Suffolk, the south shore,” Kaiman said. “The decision we made was to look for a number and try to help instead of telling the caller they are not residents of North Hempstead. We even have a list of shelters in Freeport… “
The town even supplied FEMA with two tractors and agreed to gas up Coast guard boats, “so instead of us going to federal government, they are coming to us,” he joked.
The town is also housing 100 state troopers at the new community center in Westbury, which is also serving as a shelter.
This isn’t purely altruistic; there is also an advantage to the town of having all these critical people – including LIPA’s location managers – posted here in the town.
“We are becoming a hub for the region – we are close to New York City – it helps us in the long run, as we work with FEMA, LIPA, Coast Guard, state police, as we have greater needs, to have them in our command center.”
Kaiman said the town has taken the position to have its crews and building department out and available.
“If a tree is on a house, we’ve taken a position from policy standpoint, the building department will come within one to two hours, photograph, then you are free to have it fixed without going through the permit process. In emergency circumstances, we will let homeowner get a contractor immediately (but the homeowner has to be able to provide the documentation) and will issue permits at a later time.”
If the tree is a municipal tree – whether town or village – Kaiman said, the town’s crew will assist getting the tree off the house. If the tree is a private tree, the homeowner will have to get their own service.
To address the growing fuel shortage (the Port of New York has been closed so fuel tankers haven’t been getting in), Kaiman said, the town has just acquired a fuel truck – so the town can supply municipalities and shelters.
“There are lines at gas stations – people are nervous about running out. We anticipate getting fuel soon… “
Kaiman acknowledged the frustration that residents in having to go days without power but he outlined the method that needs to be followed and the hurdles: the first priority is to clear the roadways of debris, which requires LIPA people to shut down power to wires before the debris can be cleared. In prior storms, this process was delayed because two separate teams – the electrical teams and the DPW crews – were not necessarily going out together. Kaiman had the town’s DPW crews shadow the LIPA crews so they would be on hand to saw and push the debris to the side.
Once that is completed, then crews will come by the reconnect the wires and restore power. That would be followed by Cablevision and Verizon crews.
Indeed, Sandy was an extraordinary test of government, a test of infrastructure, and a test of beliefs.
The notion of “small” government versus “good” government. Here at the local level, and also at the federal level, this storm has tested assumptions and beliefs.
As difficult and frustrating as it has been, considering the scale of this storm – stretching over 1,000 miles, with 8.4 million people without power, including 90 percent of Long Island, the fact that the death toll is around 100 is really remarkable.
Hurricane Katrina was much, much more confined in its terror, but more than 1,500 people perished in that disaster – the vast majority after the storm because of an inept government response.
President Obama managed the coming crisis like a war – marshaling resources even before the storm hit (that murdering moron ‘Heckofajob’ Brownie, Bush’s horse-association head of FEMA, actually criticized Obama for moving resources “too soon”).
Obama took steps to cut bureaucratic red tape, immediately declaring states and localities disaster areas in order for them to qualify for aid and access to federal assets.
Obama also called upon all the resources and departments of government, from FEMA to Homeland Security to the Department of Defense, to get supplies and personnel into affected communities. I saw a Navy helicopter fly by Long Beach, and we had FEMA trailers filled with emergency rations and water at Parkwood parking lot. To address a growing gasoline shortage – which was spurring a panic – Obama had millions of gallons of gasoline, into the area, had mobile units positioned to distribute them.
This catastrophe, especially because of the timing around the presidential election, should raise deep and important questions about the role of government – Romney had said that he would shut FEMA down or reduce its role considerably.
In other words, those 17 people who had to ditch the tall ship Bounty as Hurricane Sandy was making its way up the Atlantic coast and were holding on to lifeboats, should just paddle as best they could to shore, because Romney doesn’t think they deserve the assistance of federal government. That wasn’t just a real event, it was a metaphor. Those homes and shops decimated by the storm? Well, that’s just tough luck, and after all, there are winners and losers in society.
And what of the source of Hurricane Sandy? Sandy is only the latest in extreme weather disasters – indeed, this week a Nor’easter is expected in our area on the heels of this “perfect storm.”
One climate event does not proof of climate change makes, but what we have seen in the past few years is one extreme weather event after another (more on this in a future column).
Anytime you hear Romney and the Romney Republicans say that addressing climate change by shifting an economy and an infrastructure based on fossil fuels, to clean, renewable fuels is just too costly, because at this stage in that emerging technology’s development, the cost is a few cents more per kilowatt hour, just say, “Sandy.” Think about the $50 billion or $60 billion in damages this one storm heaped – not to mention more than 100 lives lost, businesses and homes ruined, the suffering of elderly and sickly, but somehow these costs are never factored in, just as they aren’t factored in during any discussion of access to health care.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said we would build New York back, but build it back better, with an awareness and proper respect for the “new normal” – that the seas are rising, the oceans are heating, that flooding which was unheard of 100 years ago when the subways were the miracle of engineering, may happen again…. And again….. and again.
“I assure you everyone is doing everything they can, but these are significant challenges we are facing, and problems that in many instances we have never experienced before or not in a generation,” Cuomo said. Going forward, the state has to rebuild with climate change and extreme weather in mind.
“The challenge is not just to build back, but to build back better – we think we can improve the city and state from this.
“Given the frequency, for us to say this is once in a generation is [naïve]. We need to modify the infrastructure, our built environment. This city, this region is very susceptible to coastal flooding. That is not something we had to deal with historically with any frequency, so we are not built in a way that has protections. Other places live with river flooding, coastal flooding and build with that in mind.
“We have to recognize that climate change is a reality, extreme weather is a reality, a reality that we are vulnerable, and if we are going to do our job as elected officials, we have to redesign so we are not vulnerable.”
