News! Sandy, the perfect monster storm!

As the sun rises on the devastation left on the US north east coast by tropical storm Sandy, our beloved NYC - the city that never sleeps is crippled.  Atlantic city is covered by sea foam and the streets have turned into rivers.  80mph winds and 20 feet storm surges have destroyed the famous boardwalk there.  ONE THIRD of the country is seriously affected.

Here in the Caribbean I woke up at 6am to a hot pink sky, not a good sign!  I immediately turned the TV on to see what had evolved since last night.  They expected the worst and it happened.........more!  I will firstly let all my dear friends and family know that we are fine down here!  Please don't worry!  It is now almost 8am and the sky is pretty clear and sunny!  There is a refreshing breeze!  The past 2 days has given us large ground swells and my beach is a little battered from the unusual surge.........but its nothing really.  Sandy by-passed us!!!  The worst is that the water is really cloudy and churned making snorkeling a fruitless task!  Two nights ago I had friends for dinner on my deck overlooking the water and the sky constantly lit up in an amazing electric light show............all in the distance and moving north.  It was a full moon above us!  We have been lucky!

Just over a month ago we spent a week in NYC!  Now JFK and La Guardia are shut down and the storm has stranded 1000's of travelers within a devastated city.  I need to fly back into NYC within a month so crossing my fingers that all is well by then..........a very small concern considering what the residents of that area are experiencing.  For those reading this post and familiar with The Big Apple I am sure you are seeing the news!  The news reports are in heavy detail here, so I will report what I have seen.

• The whole lower part of Manhattan, south of 35th street has experienced the largest power outage in recorded history.   That huge section of the city is in total blackout.  Midtown is around 42nd...........so we are talking a good third of the city.  
• 7.5 million people are without power and that could take days to repair.
• 4 - 8 feet of water has flooded NYC subways which are shut down.
• Battery park tunnel is a waterfall!
• Massive 14 foot surges hit NY harbour.
• Ground Zero is totally flooded.
• Wall St was closed yesterday and will be today too...........
• Hospitals were plunged into darkness and underwater.  Emergency generators didn't start leaving hospital staff the task of evacuating 100's of patients.
• A crane 1000 feet above the ground on a 90 storey building site was blown into a back flip and now dangles dangerously above a residential area.
• Queens - the area where most of the 9/11 workers came from, now looks like a war zone with not only flooding but fires that are burning buildings for 12 blocks.
• Some apartment blocks are without walls and a massive explosion created more fires downtown
• 8 states report unusually heavy snow with more predicted!

As the largest city in the world was hammered and then crippled by what they call the "perfect storm" - residents and the businesses that endured 9/11 must now start a clean up again contending not just with heavy ocean surges and flooding but now with intensive fires.  Staggering images leave us dumbfounded as more heavy rainfall is predicted for the next 2 days, adding to the emergency workers' mammoth task.  But they will do it!  Again!  That is the beauty of the American spirit.........