Sandy Checkin and Drinking Society

Good re your parents.

That does make sense, Mysteryman. Horrible! Nightmare turned real.

So glad to see you're all safe. Mazel-tov!

I called Nextone. She's fine. She has power. High winds in her area, but not a lot of rain.

I've been trying to reach the hospital to find out about my appointment tomorrow. I can't get through. Phooey.

Glad people are doing OK here.

Still trying to reach my cousin. No luck.

Has Frank Apisa been on line lately?

Yeah. Or Thomas?

I went to the hospital website. No appointments. Phooey. At least I can stop trying to call.

I left a message for Thomas.

My folks remain sans power - kinda understandable as LI was really smacked. They're fine, just bored.

Euchre. I recommend euchre.

It's all over the news here.

Weirdly my boss is in Virginia right now. She's fine. No power loss. Of course we live in cyclone city so we get a bit blase.

Cyclone City?

So glad to hear from most of the A2Krew. Hoping all will check in before long.



Boida... please don't venture out until it's a little safer goil. ((((Boida)))))xxxxxxxxxxxx

Izzie querida, Where am I gonna go? So far I have everything I need. The elevator is running. My phone is working. I'm OK.

It's OK where I am. Still reeling over the clips of seeing lower Manhattan under water. I've been through a lot of hurricanes. Never saw that before.

Confession: I'm sympathetic to all the people who suffer during natural catastrophes. I'm truly sorry for the loss of life and the devastation. But there's a little part of me that takes pleasure in seeing the planet assert itself and remind us of how small we are.

Yay, you're safe!! And sending best wishes to all our East Coasters!

Here's a cool wind map -- with the NE, of course, being most visible today!

http://hint.fm/wind/

Totally get where you're coming from re: the planet asserting itself. But have been very worried about all you guys. Can't believe I was just there, riding those subways, visiting the neighbourhoods. I am glad you are all okay, and have been fixated to the news station where the pictures are unbelievable, particularly about the subway (hopefully some rats will have drowned!).

Nature is awesome, in the true meaning of the word, and usually it's awesome somewhere else ... when it happens in your back yard, 'awesome' is not the word you use.

I'm disturbed that Thomas hasn't been on here yet. Just been watching the mayor of NJ on tv describing what has happened there...yikes.

This reminds me somewhat of the Quebec Ice Storm of whatever year that was... but maybe worse.

Good luck to all of you and love and hugs - so glad you're all safe. Except Thomas... where is that giggly German?

Far North Queensland George - remember Yasi last year? We get them a lot.

When I saw that Sandy was cat 1, I wasn't too concerned, but it was the combination of tide/moon/timing that was the real issue. Tidal surge, and the cold noreaster from over the border; that changed the scenario totally.

I still recall not seeing the sun for almost three months during the '74 floods in Brisbane, and I was in Katherine NT when three cyclones joined forces to flood an area as big as Victoria.

Weather is just something QLDers come to expect in the Summer. Not sure if things are getting wilder, or not.

I was pondering what putting the US's eastern seaboard (population density and infrastructure) on the queensland coast would mean in damage terms. Often a cyclone hits our coast and there's bugger all there so few people are affected (relatively).

Yes, it would be interesting. Yasi was a wild one, but so few people in the path.

I did a couple of trips to Groote Eylandt and Gove / Nhullunbuy, and all the buildings there are pre-stressed concrete slabs, with windows of half-inch lexan bullet-proof perspex. Horses for courses, I guess.

Went for a swim in the town pool at Groote, and there's a brown stain around the waterline. Turns out a local car dealer had a new American convertible delivered, and it was still uninsured. When a cyclone came through, he figured the safest place for it was at the bottom of the pool.

Hope Bellevue is ok again soon.

Me too, deb. Patients were evacuated from Bellevue and its affiliated hospital (NYU Medical Center). I can't even think about schlepping 200 very sick people down many flights of darkened stairs in the middle of a storm.

From a Manhattan perspective, the biggest issue with Sandy was the storm swell plus the full moon. Sat watching the news with my mouth open in disbelief as large parts of lower Manhattan were underwater with cars floating around.