Hurricane Sandy: The Before, During and After the storm

Hey everyone! It has been very busy for me in the past few weeks.

Before The storm:

On October 27th,  two days before Sandy was set to start hitting Long Island, people started realizing this was not a storm to mess around with. People were already evacuating, in communities such as Port Jefferson, Fire Island, Massapequa, Long Beach and Far Rockaway. Areas South of Sunrise Highway in Nassau were to evacuate, and South of Montauk Highway in Suffolk. Shelters opened at Nassau Community College, Locust Valley High school. Levittown Memorial High and SUNY Old Westbury. In Suffolk, shelters were opened at Brentwood, Sachem East and Hampton Bays High Schools. Most schools on Long Island closed on October 29th, including many universities, such as Molloy, CW Post, Adelphi and Hofstra. Sandy had not done much to the Carolina Coast as it swirled out in the Atlantic, but that did not mean LI should let its guard down. In Jamaica, a death was blamed on Sandy, when a mudslide caused the death of an old man. The Bahama’s were not so beautiful before and after Sandy, which caused many Caribbean vacationers to put their vacations on hault. The US Stock exchange was closed for 2 days and NYC Public Transportation was haulted for several more days, as well as NYC Public Schools (for five days). Despite the incoming storm, a Norwegian Cruise Ship left NY Harbor heading for Bermuda on Sunday October 28th, a day before the storm.

During The Storm:

Sandy arrived, as expected, on Monday October 29th. During that afternoon, it brought wind gusts as high as 60-70mph in Nassau and Central and Western Suffolk. Even with these high winds gusts, the storm was well off The NJ Coast, and wouldn’t arrive in Southern NJ till the evening. This was a superstorm, because it brought surge into The South Shores of LI and NYC just as High Tide arrived. The Full Moon did not make things any better. Up to 14 feet of water was found in some areas of Nassau and Suffolk. Luckily, many people did evacuate, but some willingly rode out the storm in their Flood-Prone homes. In Breezy Point, a fire started in one of the houses, and the high winds spread the fire to 30 houses. The most power outages reported by LIPA was 937,000 at its peak, which is about 94% of LIPA’s customers.

After The Storm:

Long Island braced for a wild ride in cleanup, and still is. After waking up on November 1st, when most LIers had no power, the damage was unthinkable. In total, $32 billion dollars in damage was reported in NY by Governor Cuomo, $13 billion dollars of which was on Long Island. The beaches were eroded to shreds. Almost all homes South of the southernmost highways were destroyed. Marsh homes were lifted and crushed off of there stilts. 13 people died on Long Island, of the about 235 people dead along the East Coast.  Recovery efforts began aroung Long Island. Another problem boiled: Gas Shortages. People were starting to get frustrated with the Shortage of gas. Cuomo was among one of the people victim’s looked towards for answered. People began to become frustrated, and gas lines grew everywhere. Some even resorted to pulling out weapons at gas stations as a threat. In South Shore communities, looters posed as fake ConEd workers going into people’s homes, while others siphoned gas out of vehicles. Some people were left in the dark for 2 weeks. A Nor’easter threatened to stop recovery efforts on LI again, and it seemed as if LI would never catch a break. On November 13th, Michael Harvey, COO of Lipa, stepped down. Since his resign, about 5 other high-ranking LIPA officials have stepped down in favor of many Long Islanders. Many schools stayed close for 6-7 weekdays, some for more, in places such as Long Beach, Island Park, Hewlett-Woodmere, Lawrence, Oceanside, Massapequa, Lindenhurst and Huntington. School districts are still pending an answer from the State on if 5 days of the of the hurricane will be excused, but many schools have already cancelled off-days during the school year.

Criticism

Sorry about not posting. Everything got busy and yeah I kind of want to change the theme of my blog. Please comment and tell me if I should continue writing these short stories and if I should change my blog:

Lost Nearby

Close. So close that I can sense it. The MCA may have finally found the country. The town he’s in. I know it. For years I’ve longed for a sibling, specifically my soul sibling to play with. A sibling that I can hang around and vent to when I need to cry, or scream, or just have fun. The loneliness hurts, like someone is pounding a hammer into your heart and soul.  No friend can replace the sibling I lost 11 years ago today. He must be at least 16 now, maybe even older. Our childhoods, ruined forever, never to be replaced. I remember that day when he was abducted from the playground. I wandered for hours looking for him. “Mark, Mark!” But I couldn’t find him. Later I went home, my parents sobbing. Most likely sobbing from the abduction of a loved child. “Why, God, why us!” said mother. I grew up alone, frightened, anxious. Every night from 1^st grade to 5^th grade, I’d cry myself to sleep, wanting my best friend back, my brother. I knew he’d never come, or so I kept telling my pessimistic self. Sometimes I’d wonder if I was next, next to be taken away, but taken to my best friend, Mark.

This anniversary is no different, nor special, I’ll skip school and stay home, keeping silent as my parents look through the pictures, never forgetting the once joyful past. The only real difference is the amount of optimism. The Missing child Agency has found evidence, very reliable evidence that could link Mark’s disappearance to a similar disappearance in Russia, where a child was abducted from a playground and never seen again. The weird thing is the anniversary of that child’s disappearance is also today. I often walk down the street to the cemetery and sit, and ponder the endless possibilities of his current life. Does he know his origins, or does he not remember? My parents try to remind me to stick with the present, and not with the past, as the past often doesn’t help as much as looking towards the future. “Jimmy, come down for dinner. We need to talk.” At dinner I found out that we’re taking a trip upstate, away from the suburban Hartford life, to the peaceful fields of Northwestern Connecticut. We’re visiting Grandma and Grandpa to “take our minds of off things” as my parents say, which I know means to mourn the loss with more family, which happens every year. Later, I started packing, because tomorrow is Saturday and that means a driving day, so I’ll be bored in the car all day. As I was packing, I found something under a book on the living room table. It was a note, and it was from the state police commissioner to my parents. It read: “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lenny Travers. We have found a similar case to Mark’s. This case has occurred in Russia and seems to have much in similar with yours. Visit me at your convenience and we can discuss the details. Thank you.” Later, my parents left for the grocery store. After reading that note earlier, I really wanted to know what the “details” were. I stayed up late wondering what the commissioner was going to say. At around 12am, my parents came through the door, whispering about something. I went downstairs to try and listen, but got frustrated after they quieted down, so I went outside and to the cemetery. The cemetery was weird tonight, with a thick fog. I went by the usual gravestone and took a seat, and looked straight ahead. I saw a gravestone that said “Karm Sravert.” Hmm, what a weird name for a child I thought. Then something dawned on me. The lifetime of the gravestone said “1995-2001.” That was the 6 years me and Mark spent together. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my parent running at me, screaming “Mark, we can explain!” I noticed, if you reverse the first and last letters of “Karm” and “Sravert”, it makes “Mark Travers.” My parents had known about Mark the whole time… they were the abductors.

 

Rare Tornado strikes Long Island

In many parts of the US, such as the Plains States, tornadoes are almost a weekly occurrence in many towns. Cold air from the West collides with warm, moist air from the East. This causes for the formation of tornadoes. They come in different  forms and sizes. Some come in duratios, long strips of severe storms with embedded stronger cells and some come in microbursts, single cells that emerge alone. It just so happened that a storm cell formed in Central Suffolk County on Long Island on Friday, August 10th 2012, which is a rare occurrence for the area.

The morning of August 10th started out stormy. Much of the Northeast was engulfed by storms, with some heavy cells which may have included hail, damaging winds, and heavy rain. The Tornado threat was low for the day. Storms swept through Nassau with force. Over 3,000 power outages were recorded at one point.Then, at 2pm, a Tornado Warning was issued for the Islip/Bohemia are of Suffolk County. A Tornado warning is issued when a hook echo is detected on doppler radar. The Tornado ripped through several miles of suburban area in Central Suffolk, from Bohemia north to Ronkonkoma. Houses were damaged, trees and power lines were down and cars were smashed during the EF0 Tornado that packed winds up to 85mph. This is a very rare event, considering how far North we are and how small the Island is. And the season isn’t even over yet…

The Tornado was reported by eyewitnesses moving north by The Connetquot river area.

July 4th tragedy

July 4th may be happy for some people, but will be in the mind  of one families forever as a memorial day. It was the day when their boat capsized, leaving 3 children stuck in the cabin to drown to their death. The families affected by this tragedy are the Gaines, Treanor and Aureliano families.

Many Long Islanders woke up on July 5th to a startling cover of newsday. No, not “Mcy’s fireworks are best fireworks yet,” LI’ers woek up to this “Yacht Tragedy kills 3 children.” 11 year old Harlie Treanor, 8 year old Victoria gaines and 12 year old David Aureliano were killed when they were stuck in the cabin of the yacht as it was drowning. 27 passengers were on the yacht, but only 24 were able to be pulled aboard another vessel. Just as the family is mourning the passing of these innocent children, the FBI lifted the yacht, which was crowded with almost twice the maximum amount the yacht should have been holding at the time of the incident. The yacht is believed to have been trying to turn just as a wave hit it during a Thunderstorm, which crossed the LI Sound at around 10:38pm. A Special Marine Warning was issued by the National Weather Service. The thunderstorm was picked up on doppler radar wth winds in excesse of 40 mph, hail the size of nickels and cloud to ground lightning. The boat was operated by two men, who were brothers-in-law, and were not intoxicated.

It could have been avoided:

• The maximum capacity was 15 and there were 27 people on board
• A Special Marine Warning was issued to all boaters at least 10 minutes before the storm crossed over the sound
• Not all the passengers were wearing life jackets.

Oheka Castle

Oheka Castle is one of the most famous historic sites in the nation. It was built by Otto Kahn from 1914-1919. It still remains as the second largest private home in the nation. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It i a popular celebrity, socialite and diginites celebration area. Here are some famous celebrations held there:

• Served as some of the inspiration for Gatsby castle in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
• Kevin Jonas married his GF at Oheka in 2001
• Oheka became the set in 2010 of the soap opera, As The World Turns.
• The Castle was seen in the movie What Happens In Vegas in 2010, with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.
• In November 2010, Minka Kelly married Derek jeter at Oheka, but now they are divorced.

56 posts, 65+ days, and 3,000+ views

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Those are the stats. I started this blog in an effort to put out the information stored in my brain, and to educate others. Another reason of starting this blog was that it seemed cool to have a blog. Thanks to everyone who has viewed this blog multiple times. I a m glad to have many readers.

Long Beach and Glen Cove Profiles

As many of you may have read in my past blog entries, LI is not just an island. It is divided into 2 counties, followed by 12 townships , which is then followed by 22 villages, society’s, and chambers, and then followed by many more hamlets. Although this is the case, two cities in Nassau have pronounced them selves as seperate from the county, and the island. Th cities often receive help as needed from the county, but tat comes as a cost, and the cost reaks havoc on each cities tax payers. The two cities are Glen Cove and Long beach. One resembles a Mid-atlantic rsort city (LB)  while the other respresents a Coastal New England folk town (GC). They are often on their own in this terrible economy, and this blog will show you how they do it.

Long Beach: “The official City By The Sea” is well known for it’s great waves, spectacular beach, and great shopping and entertainment districts. As of 2010, the city’s population was just over 33,000. Not too big for a city, but if you ever go to LB, you couldn’t tell it was only 30,000 people. LB gained nationwide fame in 2011 for two things. They beat out beaches in California, Florida and Hawaii to hold 2011′s Quiksilver Pro Surfing Competition. Although this seems like a marvelous triumph,  the fame and fun was cut short just days before the competition when Hurricane Irene was spotted coming in. It battered Long Beach, causing damage to the famous Lifegaurd tower, the boardwalk and widespread flodding, which triggered Mandatory Evacuations. Long Beach has made smart investments, like the trolley bus and the rent-a-bike, which is LB’s newest investment,  lets you pickup a bike somewhere in the city, but return it anywhere else in the city.

 

Glen Cove: The North Shore Gold Coast city of Glen Cove is a place known for it’s historic 20th century architecture and for its diverse community. As of 2010, the population was just under 27.000. The US post office in Glen cove was listed on the National Register of Historic places in 1989, and the Justice Court Building was added in 1990. The Webb Institute is in Glen cove and offers a 4 year college course for Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Glen cove is a distinctly diverse community. They have holy buildings, ranging from synagogues, to presbyterian churches. glen cove is also known for it’s heavily used transportation. LI Transit has a express bus rute which runs between Midtown and glen cove on weekdays. NICE bus service has two routes running through Glen Cove and the MTA LIRR has the Oyster Bay Branch running through glen Cove. there are actually three stations within the whole city limits of GC: Sea Cliff, Glen Street and Glen Cove Station. The city holds the Morgan Park Music Festival on summer sunday evenings and is the headquarters of The National Stamp Dealers Association.