the phrase "high and dry" used in a humourous way

The phrase usually means "stranded and helpless." But here the speaker deliberately used it to mean "(it is) high and (it is) dry (free from the impact of hurricane Sandy).

Am I on the right track?

Context:

The storm had unexpectedly picked up speed as it roared over the Atlantic Ocean on a slate-gray day and went on to paralyze life for millions of people in more than a half-dozen states, with extensive evacuations that turned shorefront neighborhoods into ghost towns. Even the superintendent of the Statue of Liberty left to ride out the storm at his mother’s house in New Jersey; he said the statue itself was “high and dry,” but his house in the shadow of the torch was not.