For all you hipster large and small towns in the northeast who have taken great pride in banning big box stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, good luck rebuilding after the storm. I am sure you are going to be really happy that you banned retail establishments with worldwide logistics resources and that have developed special skills in routing supplies needed for post-storm cleanup. Good luck getting a generator from that boutique hardware store you have been protecting.
9 responses so far ↓
1 dearieme // Oct 31, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Just another bit of fuss about a hurricane that was unusual only in that it was rather extensive, and that it happened to hit more populated areas than usual. It was not at all intensive, if I understand “category one” correctly. Still, it’s interesting to learn that NYC hadn’t bothered to protect its tunnels and subway.
2 Nick Luke // Oct 31, 2012 at 5:39 pm
It ‘landed’ as a decaying tropical storm. Still, it got rid of the ‘Fall Leaves’, no doubt. It was the preceding storm surge that did the real damage.
3 diogenes // Nov 1, 2012 at 2:02 am
dearieme…that sounds rather hubristic given that London only has about an inch of spare capacity in the bazalgette sewers at high tide….Which means that the circle line and Victoria station get closed ….on a regular basis in Winter.. a storm such as Sandy would wipe out a lot of London, or do you not agree?
4 diogenes // Nov 1, 2012 at 2:03 am
Nick Luke…the storm in 1987 that devasteated Southern England was not a hurricane. Do you have a point to make?
5 Tim Newman // Nov 1, 2012 at 6:18 am
Nick Luke…the storm in 1987 that devasteated Southern England was not a hurricane. Do you have a point to make?
I do. It was only because it hit the south-east that we’re still hearing about it 25 years later. Had an identical storm hit the north-west, nobody would have given a stuff.
6 JuliaM // Nov 1, 2012 at 8:17 am
If it had hit the north-west it would have caused £12m of civil improvements!
7 John Fembup // Nov 1, 2012 at 3:23 pm
dearieme, sir or madam as the case may be, you are uninformed.
8 dearieme // Nov 1, 2012 at 8:31 pm
@ diogenes: the Thames barrier was built as defence against just that combination of storm surge and stte of the tide. It may or may not be man enough for the job, but that’s the job it was built for. The problem with London in that the SE of England is sinking so the task gets harder every year. Scotland, meanwhile, is rising. These two phenomena are usually explained as a response to the ice going back 12000 years ago.
Whether NYC has a Wen-like disadvantage or a Caledonian advantage, or neither, I don’t know. What really piqued my interest is the fluke that I happened to ask whether NYC is ever hit by hurricanes on several US blogs not long ago. Those maxi-opinionated souls, bloggers and their commenters, evinced not the least interest in the question.
@ Fembup: aren’t we all, matey?
9 Serf // Nov 1, 2012 at 8:35 pm
…..the SE of England is sinking so the task gets harder every year. Scotland, meanwhile, is rising…..
That’s probably changed since Gordon Brown went back
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