Sandy, aka here we go again...

[Serendipity]

Watched the television coverage last night, particularly of the evacuation of Bellevue Hospital. So hard to fathom the massive devastation. I get that (as they say) people will get through this but in the meantime, my heart goes out to everyone trying to cope with it all and get their 'normal' back. Beyond comprehension!

[Trek420]

It's horrifying. I can't imagine. How can we help?

Here are more cyclists pitching in: http://grist.org/news/post-sandy-bik...kXlpx5Y.reddit

[PamNY]

We just got power back -- ironically I'm at my friend's house in Brooklyn to charge various devices and take a shower. We won't have heat or hot water for a while I'm told, but internet service is working.

It wasn't pleasant -- I hated ignoring the dog's pleas to go outside, but he is very old and I feared he would get injured going down 26 floors. We could have gone to stay with friends, but I felt keeping him safe was more important.

I've only had radio for news, so like everyone else I'm slowly absorbing the scale of destruction brought by Sandy.

I saw a lot of cyclists in Manhattan and Brooklyn -- clearly bikes saved the day for some commuters. Alas, I couldn't get my bike down all those stairs, but I do have my Xootr.

[OakLeaf]

How can we help?

Since no one in the affected region has chimed in on that ...

my general feeling is that the organizations in the best position to do disaster relief are the ones who were on the ground before it happened. Here's New York Magazine's annual list of best charities in the city. I couldn't find anything similar for New Jersey, but as always, when considering giving to a charity you're not familiar with, research it on Charity Navigator, Guidestar, and if it's a smaller organization, on their state regulatory agency's website.

And don't forget the devastation in the Caribbean islands, either. The usual suspects are at work there: Mercy Corps, Doctors without Borders, International Red Cross, Partners in Health are among the organizations at the top of my list.

[Fredwina]

Sandy was bust here in Albany.
Professionally , however....
I'm a computer programmer for NYS' Office of Temporary and Disablity Assitance. I work excuslivey with NYC's Human Resources Authority(HRA),
Things have been a mess. Right now, we going to issue emergency Food Stamp money to 350,000 folks, with more to come. Since I did the emergency money for Irene, I've gotten tasked with this again. We're alsi supposed to sending some money out, and I'm writining some code for that, which should be ready for Tuesday. Needless to say, not much bike riding this weekend. Probably will head to work as soon as I read the Times Union.

[withm]

I was able to return home Wed. when the flood waters receeded. I had water to about 24" -36" throughout the neighborhood, maybe a little higher. I have not yet measured the high water mark, but it was about 2" below the top of my crawl space access hatch. The crawl space was flooded, but the water is mostly gone. There is nothing in there but wiring and ductwork hanging from the ceiling of the crawl so as long as there are no tears in the ductwork, I should be ok. I still need to slither under there and check things out but I'm waiting for it to dry out a little more.

Still there are puddles of deep water here and there. My pilel of firewood is scattered all over the yard, tree limbs, branches, and a few trashcans worth of pine cones and pine needles are everywhere, but it's still too wet to go out and clean up. There is a tree down behind my house, but it's not my tree, and it didn't hit any houses. My office mate lost 5 trees. I was lucky, no water entered my house, and the windows and sliding door are intact.

The highway that runs along the coast has been closed since Sunday due first to deeop water on the road, and then millions of pounds of sand. About 1/2 mile of dune was lost and relocated on the highway. They do not expect it to be cleared, inspected, and ready to reopen until Monday. This affects the residents of all the neighboring towns because there is a 20 mile detour to go around. My normal route to work is 13 miles, now it's 32 slow agonizing miles in bumper to bumper traffic for 20 miles of 2 lane road with lots of traffic lights. Last night it took me almost 2 hours to get home from work!

Many homes nearby, but not in my neighborhood, were not so lucky - 2-3' of water inside. Fortunately it's a resort community, most of these houses are 2nd homes, but still it's a terrible loss to go through this. My heart really goes out to those who have lost everything. Having lost an entire house and contents to fire a few years ago, I have some experience with this. I've had many scuba diving trips off of Long Beach Island - I really feel for all of those people who have lost their homes. Well everywhere. I had one friend whose car was flooded (totaled), and siding ripped off her house, but is otherwise OK. We lost power where I was staying for about 18 hours, but don't seem to have lost any power at my own house; some clocks were blinking, but my kitchen clock radio, and stove clocks had the correct time. I have had some brief DSL outages but they seemed to be measured in minutes, not hours.

LOL - my biggest inconvenience is that I ordered a new Kindle Fire, and it's been delayed by the storm, but it might show up today.

[withm]

I was able to return home Wed. when the flood waters receeded. I had water to about 24" -36" throughout the neighborhood, maybe a little higher. I have not yet measured the high water mark at my house, but it was about 2" below the top of my crawl space access hatch. The crawl space was flooded, but the water is mostly gone. There is nothing in there but wiring and ductwork hanging from the ceiling of the crawl so as long as there are no tears in the ductwork, I should be ok. I still need to slither under there and check things out but I'm waiting for it to dry out a little more.

Still there are puddles of deep water here and there. My pile of firewood is scattered all over the yard, tree limbs, branches, and a few trashcans worth of pine cones and pine needles are everywhere, but it's still too wet to go out and clean up. There is a tree down behind my house, but it's not my tree, and it didn't hit any houses. My office mate lost 5 trees. I was lucky, no water entered my house, and the windows and sliding door are intact.

The highway that runs along the coast has been closed since Sunday due first to deeop water on the road, and then millions of pounds of sand - up to 5' deep! About 1/2 mile of dune was lost and relocated on the highway. They do not expect it to be cleared, inspected, and ready to reopen until Monday. This affects the residents of all the neighboring towns because there is a 20 mile detour to go around. My normal route to work is 13 miles, now it's 32 slow agonizing miles in bumper to bumper traffic for 20 miles of 2 lane road with lots of traffic lights. Last night it took me almost 2 hours to get home from work!

Many homes nearby, but not in my neighborhood, were not so lucky with 2-3' of water inside. Fortunately it's a resort community, most of these houses are 2nd homes, but still it's a terrible loss to go through this. My heart really goes out to those who have lost everything. Having lost an entire house and contents to fire a few years ago, I have some experience with this. I've had many scuba diving trips off of Long Beach Island - I really feel for all of those people who have lost their homes. Well everywhere. I had one friend whose car was flooded (totaled), and siding ripped off her house, but is otherwise OK. We lost power where I was staying for about 18 hours, but don't seem to have lost any power at my own house; some clocks were blinking, but my kitchen clock radio, and stove clocks had the correct time. I have had some brief DSL outages but they seemed to be measured in minutes, not hours.

LOL - my biggest inconvenience is that I ordered a new Kindle Fire, and it's been delayed by the storm, but it might show up today.

[Catrin]

I was surprised to hear that a couple of electrical crews from the southern US were turned away from a town they were sent to help out...because the visiting volunteer crew weren't union members! I am sorry, I don't get that. They found another location to help out, but I was floored that they were actually turned away from an area that needed help!

Withim, PamNY and everyone else in the affected areas, hang in there and please keep us posted as you have been. So glad to hear that no TE members have been hurt!

[OakLeaf]

Not true .... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-...away-from-n.j/