After the Storm
Nov. 4th, 2012 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraSo now I get to put a little check in the box marked "Survived Major Weather Event" on the celestial intake form.
And the Weather Event was… Major. Though considerably more compressed than I thought it would be. And all wind and practically no rain.
Around 5pm I was sitting at my little desk in the 2nd floor eyrie staring out into the grey storm funnel when the tree across the street suddenly started getting bigger. At first I thought it was an optical illusion. But no, the tree was falling – although I couldn't quite figure out how it was falling.
I raced outside. It was blowing hard, but you could still stand.
The huge, beautiful maple tree that had formed part of a canopy of trees over Cassandra's street had been completely uprooted by the storm. It had fallen towards the house onto the spot where I usually park my car. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to move my car.
We were still in relatively high spirits then, My Gawd – can you believe – so I raced outside to take photographs. (Unfortunately, LJ's photo widget is being uncooperative this morning.)
As it turned out, tens of thousands of trees across the storm area were uprooted just like that. They didn't lose branches, they just… toppled. They couldn't stand up to winds that raged between 70 and 85 miles per hour.
Shortly afterwards the power went off.
And then the windstorm began in earnest.
Cassandra is an organizational paragon, so there were storm lanterns, enough food for a month and a wood-burning stove. Nothing was going to happen to us – we lived 10 miles or more from the shore.
Still, I was scared shitless. Some deep primal fear.
Not the cats, though. They wanted to go outside and dance with the elements. And so they scooted out the door and I had to go out looking for them. It was blowing so hard outside I literally could not stand up straight. It was like being on one of those bizarre midway rides that hurl you around with centrifugal force. I could smell ozone, see green and magenta explosions of light – electric transformers blowing out.
Managed to grab Rutger – never the smartest of animals –and pull him inside. The Meezer followed on her own.
The storm was billed as a three-day event, but by the next morning it was mostly over.
Huge number of trees down in our little suburban enclave, but oddly enough relatively little damage beyond that. We were utterly cut off from news outlets beyond a little emergency radio so I didn't find out by the utter devastation wrought in other parts of the area till yesterday.
This is the second Major Weather Event in NYC in a two years. No one is using the GW word, but of course it's the elephant in the room. I read an editorial in the New York Times calling for the development of seawalls and levies, which wouldn't make sense unless the so-called "experts" anticipated more such "Major Weather Events" strung closely together.
I'm no expert, but I would venture an opinion that the damage wrought by the storm itself rivals anything that happened to New Orleans during Katrina, except for the death counts. The main horror show in New Orleans was the Katrina aftermath, of course. The jury's still out on whether the Sandy aftermath will turn into that. Things are sounding pretty desperate in the Rockaways and Staten Island, but that could just be over-sensationalized news accounts.
One week after the fact, life is far from normal. We haven't suffered at all – yes, the electricity is still off, but that's an inconvenience not a life changing event. There are lines three miles long at gas stations and a certain desperate glint in the eyes of people whom one senses are strangers to desperation for the most part.
No one is talking about Tuesday's election. I can't tell whether this storm was candidate-neutral or what.
Of course, Obama will win. But for a reason nobody will ever talk about. When push comes to shove, Americans just don't like those wholesome, milk-drinking, smirking Mormons.
And the Weather Event was… Major. Though considerably more compressed than I thought it would be. And all wind and practically no rain.
Around 5pm I was sitting at my little desk in the 2nd floor eyrie staring out into the grey storm funnel when the tree across the street suddenly started getting bigger. At first I thought it was an optical illusion. But no, the tree was falling – although I couldn't quite figure out how it was falling.
I raced outside. It was blowing hard, but you could still stand.
The huge, beautiful maple tree that had formed part of a canopy of trees over Cassandra's street had been completely uprooted by the storm. It had fallen towards the house onto the spot where I usually park my car. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to move my car.
We were still in relatively high spirits then, My Gawd – can you believe – so I raced outside to take photographs. (Unfortunately, LJ's photo widget is being uncooperative this morning.)
As it turned out, tens of thousands of trees across the storm area were uprooted just like that. They didn't lose branches, they just… toppled. They couldn't stand up to winds that raged between 70 and 85 miles per hour.
Shortly afterwards the power went off.
And then the windstorm began in earnest.
Cassandra is an organizational paragon, so there were storm lanterns, enough food for a month and a wood-burning stove. Nothing was going to happen to us – we lived 10 miles or more from the shore.
Still, I was scared shitless. Some deep primal fear.
Not the cats, though. They wanted to go outside and dance with the elements. And so they scooted out the door and I had to go out looking for them. It was blowing so hard outside I literally could not stand up straight. It was like being on one of those bizarre midway rides that hurl you around with centrifugal force. I could smell ozone, see green and magenta explosions of light – electric transformers blowing out.
Managed to grab Rutger – never the smartest of animals –and pull him inside. The Meezer followed on her own.
The storm was billed as a three-day event, but by the next morning it was mostly over.
Huge number of trees down in our little suburban enclave, but oddly enough relatively little damage beyond that. We were utterly cut off from news outlets beyond a little emergency radio so I didn't find out by the utter devastation wrought in other parts of the area till yesterday.
This is the second Major Weather Event in NYC in a two years. No one is using the GW word, but of course it's the elephant in the room. I read an editorial in the New York Times calling for the development of seawalls and levies, which wouldn't make sense unless the so-called "experts" anticipated more such "Major Weather Events" strung closely together.
I'm no expert, but I would venture an opinion that the damage wrought by the storm itself rivals anything that happened to New Orleans during Katrina, except for the death counts. The main horror show in New Orleans was the Katrina aftermath, of course. The jury's still out on whether the Sandy aftermath will turn into that. Things are sounding pretty desperate in the Rockaways and Staten Island, but that could just be over-sensationalized news accounts.
One week after the fact, life is far from normal. We haven't suffered at all – yes, the electricity is still off, but that's an inconvenience not a life changing event. There are lines three miles long at gas stations and a certain desperate glint in the eyes of people whom one senses are strangers to desperation for the most part.
No one is talking about Tuesday's election. I can't tell whether this storm was candidate-neutral or what.
Of course, Obama will win. But for a reason nobody will ever talk about. When push comes to shove, Americans just don't like those wholesome, milk-drinking, smirking Mormons.
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no subject
Date: 2012-11-04 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-08 12:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-05 07:39 am (UTC)Up here in Ontario, the rain/sleet/snow/hail from the combined storms finally stopped yesterday. Lots of uprooted trees because the winds did gust to 80mph, and some related blackouts, but I was happily unaffected - except for worrying about all my friends on the east coast.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-08 12:36 pm (UTC)