THE DAY AFTER

Some wind, some rain, but basically calm. A lot of neighbors and family and friends have no power and some have house damage from fallen branches and trees, but all safe and uninjured thankfully.

Unfortunately there have been casualties, as I'm sure you've heard on the news. Some the result of not taking the recommended precautions. So many people returned to undamaged homes after Irene they decided to sit this one out despite evacuation notices and ended up stranded and having to be rescued, or in a few cases dead. Our hearts go out to those who lost friends or family and those who lost their homes. Most of them are down the Jersey shore and on Long Island.

My teenager and his friend are out assessing the damage around our neighborhood. That line I mentioned in the last post is still strung across our street, high enough for low cars to pass under so they are, despite the yellow tape, but SUVs can't make it. And the giant branch, big as many trees is still in the street as well and another in the back of this building.

Interestingly, my teenager came home with a phone photo of the only store in town that was obviously damaged and it was one of the liquor stores, their front window was all smashed. Hmmmmm. Wonder if some bozos might have had a bad idea in the dark last night, or if some flying debris just happened to single out the store with the bottles in the window.

And thankfully at least Mayor Bloomberg raised the possibility of climate change contributing to this historic storm, unique in the weather history of this area (including a record breaking almost 33 foot high wave in New York harbor!). It's clear that the structural engineering of a hundred or fifty or even twenty years ago is now irrelevant in the face of the extreme weather systems being produced by the changes in the global climate brought on by global warming.

Suddenly have a houseful. My teen's mother here to take a shower and use her computer since her power and heat and hot water are off, and friends of his whose homes have no power. Everyone using our power to charge their phones. Life goes on, thank God.