Waiting to Charge Cellphones

The photo of the boat was taken in Mill Basin Brooklyn.  The inlet, where I live and sail from, is 15 feet below where this boat was deposited at the level of the sidewalk.  The tidal surge overflowed the bulkhead causing dozens of cars to be totaled.  Salt water on an engine causes irreparable damage.  Having lost a car in the Perfect storm of 1991 when the inlet also overflowed, I moved my cars to higher ground and was spared.  Today I also surveyed the damage in the Rockaways and Breezy Point and I all I can say is, it’s the closest thing to a war-torn city that I could ever imagine.  Breezy point, the small, sea-side community that saw between 80 and 100 homes burn in a fire, is completely devastated.  Out of respect to the grieving families, I snapped no photos.  Instead, I hugged some friends and shed some tears. Their lives as they knew them are over.  Very little chance they can or will rebuild there.  I will leave the melodrama and ratings to the mainstream media who really aren’t concerned with people’s feelings.  People are just in shock, standing around in complete disbelief.  I can’t begin to comprehend the loss these poor people have suffered.  Traveling further east, to Belle Harbor, many friends live there as well and the devastation is unimaginable.  Houses have literally been destroyed.  There is no asphalt showing as the ocean deposited sand and debris throughout the neighborhood.  Cars are destroyed, trees are down.  One friend watched helplessly as one car burned and the other car was swept away by the ocean’s onslaught.  There is no electricity or drinkable water.  There are no traffic lights and police officers I train, expect looting to begin, as people grow more desperate.  No gas stations are operating, so many people have lined up waiting for a possible gas delivery that may not arrive for days. In addition to not having gas, there is no electricity, so even stations that have gas are closed.  I was able to charge my Chevy Volt before the power went out and I have a full tank of gas so I can wait for gas stations to come back on line.  The city has brought in generators to designated areas for people to be able to charge their cell phones.  They wait on line patiently (see photo) for the opportunity to again, gain some access to the outside world.  The sheer number of people affected by Hurricane Sandy is what makes this such a great tragedy.  If the government doesn’t do something after the cleanup is completed, to help fight such storms, more life will continue to be lost.  At last count the number of those perished in the five boroughs of New York City stands at forty-one.