Chaos Reading discussion

Okay, not really happy fun time, but I didn't know where else to put this.

I know there are a bunch of us on the east coast of the US in this group, so now that the worst of it is over check in here and let us all know how you're doing. (Assuming you have power and internet and can read this right now, of course.)

I'm in Brooklyn, NY, and after the anticlimax of Irene last year (here, at least), I was pretty skeptical but Sandy was worse than I expected. We were totally fine in our house -- it's old and there was quite a bit of creaking, and the lights flickered a few times but we never lost power. They're still clearing all the fallen trees from the surrounding streets though. It sounds like lower manhattan and jersey were hit much worse, though. Right now my biggest problem is lack of transportation, since we still don't know when the subways will be back up and running.

How are the rest of you guys doing?

Just found out that a couple was killed by a falling tree during the storm just a few blocks away from us while out walking their dog. Truly tragic.

Riona, Glad to hear you are OK. I am in Missouri but like you have been wondering about the group members on the East Coast and hoping for the best.

I'm glad to hear you're okay Riona.

It has been very strange watching the media frenzy from our perspective here. "Superstorm" Sandy was on Australian news stations 24/7 for 2 full days before it hit, meanwhile....... we have cyclones in northern Australia (and many other parts of the world) every year and unless whole cities are completely wiped out, nobody really takes much notice.

I understand that this one was in a heavily populated place that doesn't usually get hurricanes, but the media did seem a bit over the top.

Sorry, I don't mean to minimise the event, so much as vent my frustration at the media!

I'm doing great, my family is fine, we were literally on Sandy's trajectory Thank God it was not too bad. My prayer to all those affected in any way.Godbless

Ruby wrote: "Sorry, I don't mean to minimise the event, so much as vent my frustration at the media!"

You're right to do so. Riona can correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is that NY & area issued almost the same sorts of warnings for Irene last year, and it was pretty much a non-issue in the American NE. This one rates to be the second or third most costly storm ever, in terms of property damage, but storms routinely kill more people in the Caribbean than were injured in the US & Canada by this one, and most of them don't get much reporting unless they head for the mainland.

The other thing that gets me about the reporting is that you always here about the storm surge "...which will be aggravated because the storm is coming ashore at high tide". Hurricanes just don't move that fast, and when it is actually "ashore" is impossible to really say - it's ALWAYS high-tide when it hits land!

Derek wrote: "Ruby wrote: "Sorry, I don't mean to minimise the event, so much as vent my frustration at the media!"

You're right to do so. Riona can correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is that NY & are..."

You two are completely right. Last year during Irene they hyped the warnings so much (full-scale fearmongering!) and then we were just like "That's it?" I know there was damage in other places, but here it was practically nothing. So this time, it was a little like a boy-who-cried-wolf situation.

Well, time for me to figure out how to get into work today without the subway! I've heard the bus traffic is insane, so I'd better leave a couple hours early.

Ruby wrote: "I'm glad to hear you're okay Riona.

It has been very strange watching the media frenzy from our perspective here. "Superstorm" Sandy was on Australian news stations 24/7 for 2 full days before it..."

This made me think about the last time any natural disasters in Australia got any media play here in the US. As I recall it was the flooding in Victoria about two years ago, which spawned my favorite newspaper correction of all time. The Rockhampton Morning Bulletin reported that 30,000 pigs were floating down the Dawson River, later corrected to '30 sows and pigs'.

Bahaha! Nice one. I'm thinking 30,000 pigs would do some serious contamination!

This is the front of our telephone directory, by the way..


Coincidentally, this weekend is Cyclone Sunday here in Townsville too. :)
http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/comm...