Sandy... Tremendo problema para muchos.

Por lo visto la tormentita esta agarro a un monton con los pantalones abajo... o por lo menos a un monton que no se quisieron preparar para un problema avisado...

Tidal surge on river floods three New Jersey towns
12:21pm EDT
By Daniel Bases and Edward Krudy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An unprecedented tidal surge in northern New Jersey on Tuesday flooded three towns with a wall of water well over 5 feet high in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes.

The towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt were underwater after the swollen Hackensack River breached its barriers just after midnight.

"We've been involved since last night with urban search and rescue with the local folks in Moonachie and Little Ferry. We've saved hundreds already," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said in a televised press briefing Tuesday morning.

"It was not a dam or a levee, it was just a natural berm that was overwhelmed by the tidal surge, that was an unprecedented tidal surge," a raspy voiced and haggard looking Christie said.

The area located in Bergen County was hit with the tidal surge between midnight and 1:30 a.m. giving residents almost no warning. The surge came after the brunt of the storm had passed. Sandy had dropped below hurricane status just before it hit the coast further south in New Jersey on Monday evening.

"From start to finish this wall of water, in some places a wave much higher than five feet, hit this unprepared area. The full impact was felt in less than 30 minutes," said Jeanne Baratta, chief of the Bergen County Executive.

"There are probably more than 2,000 residents affected by this and a lot do not realize they cannot go back home tonight," Baratta told Reuters by telephone.

Initially there was confusion as to what actually happened with speculation the river had overflowed its banks countered by early reports from the New Jersey State Police that a levee had in fact broken in the borough of Moonachie.

There were no immediate reports of any fatalities and rescue workers have taken out several hundred residents from the danger zone to temporary shelters. Others left of their own accord.

"They are wet and they are cold and they have lost their homes and their property. It is very sad," Baratta said.

"We are in rescue mode," she said, adding that the three towns had been "devastated" by the flood waters.

While low tides might pull some of the extra volume of water out of the area, officials were concerned it would all come flooding back with the upcoming high tide on Tuesday evening, leaving conditions unsafe for residents.

Baratta described a scene of house-to-house searching by rescue teams using boats and trucks to move residents to safety at a nearby school in Teterboro. Teterboro is home to a regional airport heavily used by corporate jets and smaller aircraft.

(Reporting By Daniel Bases and Edward Krudy; Editing by Claudia Parsons)


Ciertamnete esto no se le desea a nadie, pero la verdad es que en estos casos es mejor precaver que lamentar.

Se supone que es en estos momentos dificiles que sacamos nuestra mejor casta de seres humanos


http://www.officer.com/news/10822925/looters-hitting-sandy-ravaged-stores-in-new-york-cityLooters Hitting Sandy-Ravaged Stores in New York City
By REBECCA HARSHBARGER, FRANK ROSARIO and JOSH SAUL
Source: The New York Post
Created: October 31, 2012

Hurricane Sandy brought out the worst yesterday in some sleazy New Yorkers, who looted stores and homes across the city.

Some posed as Con Ed workers to dupe their victims.

Police arrested more than a dozen looters in the Rockaways and Coney Island, which had been evacuated, and stood guard outside ravaged stores at the South Street Seaport.

“This morning when they told us the water receded, I walked back to the house to feed [my pets],” said Eric Martine, 33, a cabby who lives in Brooklyn’s Gerritsen Beach. “Guys were looting, pretending they were Con Ed and holding people up. It was sick.”



Residents said police warned them to beware of crooks pretending to be utility workers.

Cops fanned out yesterday to deal with looters around the city.

“We will not tolerate these scumbags looting. We will arrest them on sight,” said a police source.

The storm knocked out the plate-glass windows of several Seaport stores, and piggish punks took full advantage of the unguarded merchandise.

“I saw two people walking by the Ann Taylor store and reach in and take some shirts that were just laying right there by the mannequin,” said one man. “It’s really messed up, man. They’re really taking advantage.”

Looters also grabbed gadgets from a nearby Brookstone before cops arrived to stand guard.

In the Rockaways, lowlifes were sneaking into clothing stores and cleaning out pizzerias.

Two men and a woman were arrested for robbing a BP gas station on Beach Channel Drive, three men and one woman were cuffed for pillaging a Radio Shack on Beach 88th Street, and two people were arrested for raiding a clothing store near Beach 86th Street, cops said.

Stores were emptied along a two-block stretch of Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island. Seven people were busted.

“Almost everything is gone,” said store owner Mirza Baig. “We want to reopen but we don’t know how.”

Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese, Kevin Sheehan and Kieran Crowley

Y como si eso fuera poco, del Huff Post:
Hurricane Sandy Looting, Fights Plague South Brooklyn
Posted: 10/31/2012 8:16 am EDT Updated: 10/31/2012 12:01 pm EDT

Follow: New York Crime, Video, Crime Hurricane Sandy, Frankenstorm 2012, Frankenstorm 2012, Frankenstorm Crime, Hurricane Sandy 2012, Hurricane Sandy 2012, Hurricane Sandy Brooklyn, Hurricane Sandy Coney Island, Hurricane Sandy Looting, Looting Hurricane Sandy, Sandy, Sandy Crime, Sandy Looting, Crime News .
Water that had risen six feet high hadn't completely drained away from the streets of Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y., yet looters had already rifled through the remains of vulnerable shops on Mermaid Avenue.

At about 8 a.m. on Tuesday, workers arrived at Mega Aid Pharmacy to find that not only had Hurricane Sandy obliterated the building's interior the night before, but thieves had broken in and gone through more than 10,000 pharmaceutical items. Most of the stolen goods were prescription meds.

"The water went away and these people started walking down the streets and just robbed stores," a frustrated worker at the pharmacy, who wished to remain anonymous, told HuffPost Crime.

He and the pharmacy's manager, 27-year-old Stan Gutkin, looked at their shop in disbelief that afternoon as workers carried out salvageable supplies.

"I don't even know what it's going to take until we're operational," Gutkin said. "This breaks the business. I don't even know where to start."

Their story was just one of many on Mermaid Avenue, one of only a few streets in Coney Island on Tuesday teeming with people -- and officers. Locals said that the police presence in the neighborhood came after looters stole from banks, pharmacies and other shops with valuables.

It's a crime that can almost be expected after a disaster. As Hurricane Irene pummeled the Atlantic Coast last year, looting was so prevalent that truTV put together a security footage slideshow of the crime. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was plagued with looting and violent attacks, The New York Times reported.

Solid numbers aren't yet available for New York City crimes connected to the superstorm. The 60th Precinct, which covers Coney Island, was evacuated and subsequently flooded on Monday night. Though several officers couldn't say definitively whether there had been reports of looting or other crimes in the area, many were quick to tell onlookers to go home.

"It's getting dark, and it's real dangerous out here -- that's why there's a cop on every block," one NYPD officer told HuffPost Crime. "You could get your stuff stolen."

Nearby, at a city housing project called Ocean Towers, a fight broke out in front of reporters and cops. Two women threw haymakers at one another as residents -- all still without power -- stared and yelled from their windows. Other people threw unidentified objects from their windows at officers, who swarmed in to break up the fistfight.

Dena Wells, 39, a resident of Ocean Towers, had had enough after watching the melee.

"People are turning on each other -- they're attacking each other," she said, shaking her head. "Even when there's no disaster, this building is disastrous. But after the hurricane, it just got crazy.

"We have to get out of here."

A seis semanas de Sandy, que acaparo los titulares en la semana previa a las elecciones, el rendimiento del gobierno ha sido un tanto magro.


Obama’s Broken Promises
to Sandy Victims
Sandy victims still struggling to find warm housing

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy / AP
BY: Mary Lou Byrd
December 10, 2012 5:00 am
Six weeks after Sandy hit the New Jersey and New York coast, residents are still struggling and in desperate need of shelter. Many hard-hit victims are not getting help despite President Barack Obama’s pledge of the full support of the federal government, and they are dealing with red tape the president said would not be tolerated.

In the Red Hook community of Brooklyn, N.Y., many residents are still living in their unheated, powerless homes in freezing temperatures. Help from the government for residents has not come.

One victim from the Midland Beach section of Staten Island is living out of his car, going from one house to another each day in search of a warm bed. Dozens of residents are living in their sewer-flooded homes without heat or power in Gerritsen Beach.

Thousands living in hotels courtesy of FEMA are about to lose their rooms. Hotel stays for victims are set to expire on Dec. 13. That would force tens of thousands into the cold, which could prove a public relations disaster for the Obama administration and FEMA.

“Some people are camping in their homes,” said Kirby Desmarais, volunteer coordinator for Red Hook Volunteers, a group affiliated with the Red Hook Coalition. Desmarais did not have an exact number of those in Red Hook who are living in homes without power or heat in freezing temperatures. But she said it is “a lot.”

Red Hook, located a few blocks from New York Harbor and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, was hit hard. The harbor flooded homes and damaged residents’ furnaces and basement electrical boxes. Many residences remain in the dark.

When asked how well the government is responding to the crisis, Desmarais said that it is a “hard question to answer. … We had no help for 12 days. The Red Cross and the National Guard, they came too late to help.”

According to Desmarais, other residents have stayed because they want their children to attend school and maintain some form of normalcy instead of being bussed away and having to stay in a shelter. Others remain because they are afraid their homes will be looted if they leave.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a recent radio address that his office is doing his part to help those victims of Sandy.

“We’ve continued going door-to-door in areas hit by Sandy, giving electric blankets to residents who have power but no heat, warning them about hypothermia and the serious health hazards of using gas ovens and ranges for heat and letting them know that the staff at the Restoration Centers can help them find warm places to stay,” Bloomberg said.

The Washington Free Beacon called Bloomberg’s office for comment and was told to submit questions via email. Six days later, questions about the number of displaced residents, if temporary housing units (THUs) by FEMA are being considered, and the length of the city’s Rapid Repairs program’s waiting list have been unanswered.

Staten Island resident Billy Stout said he is living out of his car and jumping from one house to another.

“It’s tough,” he said.

Stout went to FEMA for assistance and was told he should apply for a SBA loan. He asked why he would apply for a loan as he is disabled and on Social Security disability. He said FEMA told him that once he’s denied for the loan they could give him assistance. That assistance came after three weeks in the amount of $2,400. He cannot find a rental unless he travels two hours away.

“I don’t think the government has done enough. They could be doing more,” said Stout, suggesting FEMA “could put up trailers at the closed Arthur Kill Correctional Facility or at Miller’s Field. There is so much space there. Then people would have a warm place to stay. I don’t know why they don’t do that.”

He said many people are in his position without a set place to stay and having difficulty finding a rental.

Victoria Hagman, whose first floor was flooded in Red Hook, said she is unable to find a rental and is staying with friends. A realtor by trade, she said, “There’s a shortage of rentals.”

She also said that the rental allowance given by FEMA is far too little for the rental prices in the area.

The WFB reported last week that about 92 FEMA trailers were sitting idle in Pennsylvania while nearby residents in New York were told FEMA did not have appropriate trailers for their needs. The day after the story appeared, Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) released a letter he sent to Craig Fugate, the administrator of FEMA, urging him to consider the unused trailers in Northeastern Pennsylvania to aid New York and New Jersey Sandy victims.

“It has come to my attention that there are FEMA Temporary Housing Units that are vacant and available in northeastern Pennsylvania,” Casey wrote to Fugate. “I understand that a formal request for Temporary Housing Units must be made by the state wishing to use them. Due to the proximity of the vacant Temporary Housing Units in northeastern Pennsylvania to locations affected by Hurricane Sandy, I respectfully request that FEMA work with the affected states to evaluate whether these units could be used by storm victims in need of housing.”

Pennsylvania is not the only state with unused FEMA trailers at their disposal. According to a story last week in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, around 520 trailers in Joplin, Mo., are unoccupied.

Lynn Onstot, Joplin’s public information officer, declined to comment on the unoccupied trailers.

“I am going to have to refer you onto FEMA Region VII office out of Kansas City. The temporary housing units are provided and managed by FEMA and they would be the contact for this question,” she wrote in an email.

Gerritsen Beach Cares Sandy Relief has started a petition urging Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to bring the idle trailers and any other unused trailers to Gerritsen Beach.

“The situation is getting worse for Gerritsen Beach residents that do not have the funds to repair the severe damage caused by this natural disaster. They need more help and support than they have already received in order to survive,” the petition states. The plea for help had over 1,600 signatures.

FEMA’s response regarding trailers in New York has been that its resources in the state for rental assistance and the Rapids Repairs program would help the most people possible. NY1 News asked FEMA this week about the idle trailers sitting in Pennsylvania, and the agency said its THUs are much bigger than RVs and campers and would not fit in people’s driveways or front yards.

However, the Free Beacon found that FEMA’s housing units may not be limited to these trailers. Three types of manufactured housing—mobile homes, park models, and travel trailers—have been used and owned by FEMA. The travel trailers are similar to motor homes and come on wheels. They can be parked on someone’s yard or driveway.

FEMA did not respond to an email request for information regarding how many travel trailers are in its inventory. However, a review of records shows that FEMA reported it had about 130,000 THUs in its inventory, including travel trailers, in 2009. Its plan was to retain 7,200 units and dispose of 121,000 units in an auction. Those auctions took place in 2010.

Desmarais said motor homes, similar to the FEMA travel trailers, also would be a great solution for those in Red Hook.

“That would be awesome,” she said, when asked if motor homes could accommodate residents’ who are freezing.