UPDATE: To all the SANDY SHILLS...: Originally: Damage Reports Yet? Why Not Post Yours Here? Maybe this will help track the storm.

Yeah I heard this on dispatch. Tomorrow morning will tell of the shitstorm.

Some streets are already flooded in Toronto, but it's not raining anymore now. And someone got killed by a flying street sign...

Ban all the shills.

That is horrible. Sorry to those that lost their homes. Hope they have found safety. The houses were built so close to the water.

i like how people are saying this is no big deal...

i think we are in for alot more

Agreed. Not just with the upcoming storm, but across the country with other things.

I know in Upstate NY from Albany to Buffalo, our local weathermen predicted a little rain and wind. But the the national channels kept yelling "Frankenstorm!" and yes, hyping this storm. If I was in NYC or NJ or DE or CT, yeah, I would have taken seriously. But New Yorkers upstate all panicked, not listening to their local weathermen, and created chaos on the streets and in the stores. I would estimate there was also a needless spike in car accidents too. I bought the last flashlight in WalMart! "D" batteries were gone - everywhere. Ice and bread were stripped in many places. People bought generators.

Myself, I spent nearly $100 in preparations because I decided to go with the flow of panic in my area. Trouble is, I am unemployed and really didn't have $100 to spend. So, most of the stuff I have will not be around in a few weeks if there IS an emergency. Stores raked in BIG BUCKS up here.

People were bitter afterwards for the storm being a bust up here even tho' they were told it was not going to be catastrophic. I was mad at myself for being sucked into the panic. Thing is, we have enuf batteries, blankets and bottled water to probably take care of all of Staten Island. Yeah - we bought it all upstate!

Bottom line is - there is a fine line between overhype and legitimate panic. I think if you lived on the coast or near a river near the coast - panic and preps were legit. West Virginia is a freak that no one expected to happen. I cannot call BS on this because I SEE what it did, though I call BS in my own area. If that makes any sense...

there are clueless fuckers polluting this board at the moment with this 'this is fuck all' bullshit

or are they clueless?

s?

It really comes down to a conundrum, doesn't it?

Storms are becoming unpredictable. If you warn for an event which doesn't pan-out as predicted, you are considered an alarmist. If you call it last minute, you are considered negligent. Where is the logical medium?

On Saturday night, I spent the evening at a NYPD event, sitting next to an OEM Director for homeless services.

He basically said that there was this fine line between calling for evacuations based upon gut, rather than what experts were relating.

For a city the size of NYC to disrupt the lives of multitudes of people, including hospitals and the like, based on intuition which may never pan out, leaves them in much the same position as calling for evacuations once things seems to be going downhill quickly.

Still, he described the plans already in progress, with all the teams already positioned on the ground in alert-mode to move in an instant, should evacuation be an undeniable course of action. And, as everyone found out, the city WAS prepared for action.

A family member (scuba diver), going to the south shore of Staten Island to help a friend secure a boat, found the sea rising steadily. He told his friend to forget the boat and get to shore, which his friend was reluctant to do. But he had to swim to shore, which was now almost up to where he had parked his pickup. As he was driving off, people in a panic were pleading for a ride out. He made a number of trips to higher ground, until there was no more road to save people. He saws there were people looking out there windows at the rising water, as if they were amused at the novelty of the flooding streets. He is still spooked.

I chose to register for NYC Alerts, which includes OEM updates, a long time ago. I do not know many people who have done this.

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It all comes down to personal choice, and, attitude. I knew that evacuations might be necessary at some point. We were told by phone, text, email, television, radio and newspaper to be prepared and on alert.

Unfortunately, there remained a good many people who do not read newspapers, do not listen to radio, do not watch the news, and, are oblivious to the fact that NYC provides continued alerts, for everything from "Silver Alerts" when confused seniors go missing, "Amber Alerts" traffic and infrastructure anomalies to storm possibilities. Some people are all about iPods, video-games, and other activities that never include news. Period. The grocer down the block thought we were having a party, when we came in Friday to buy bags of ice and a shitload of candles.

So, the conundrum becomes a 'damned if I do, damned if I don't' what's politically correct? judgement call.

Look at the Gulf States. After Katrina, we still find that people don't want to scoot every time storm comes.

And, damn, there's another storm pthat may be poised to come here, and already there are shills calling bullshit on that one.

Someone on GLP that I actually enjoy reading made a comment that Brooklyn suffered no damage...which is untrue. It is pretty devastated, with tons of houses heavily damaged by trees, and loads of shoreline damage.

Is it just that because news agencies are focusing on Jersey and Staten Island, it SEEMS AS IF Brooklyn escaped unharmed? These are errors in perception. Just because you don't see something, it doesn't mean it isn't real.

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Look...I don't want to be on alert either, but, if this is what is going to potentially save us, so be it. If this is the weather patterns we are facing, we'll just have to get used to it.

I currently have 10 times the amount of homeowners looking for us to get to their trees than we can handle. Almost immediately, I started limiting the areas in which we'll be servicing at this time.

Each one of them has been advised to please call as many other tree services as possible, because I KNOW that we will not be able to get to some of them for a week or more. I have given them succinct, clear instructions on how to best ensure that the message they leave will stand out in a sea of dozens of other messages.
Still, many are completely ignoring my advise, asking me again what time we will be coming today. I do not speak a foreign language. I speak slowly and clearly, yet, they must think if they ignore my words and badger me enough, I'll just give in; they're almost like spoiled children.

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would rather have a false alarm, than be completely unprepared. Isn't this what people do when their tornado alerts go off?

Better to be safe, than sorry.

Good point, maybe all these houses should be replaced with an unbroken line of casinos, guarding the ocean front properties that lie just behind the shadow of them.