Hurricane Sandy Hits NYC Area

This week has been one of those hard to describe life experiences. Unless you've lived a disaster before then it's kind of hard to feel the smells and pain in words alone. Life in most of Manhattan below 33rd street was dark and without power for almost a week. 

When the power goes out you experience a new kind of darkness. Cell service is down and spotty, water pressure is lower or gone, subways and tunnels are filling with water, traffic lights are out and food is running low.  

It's been a few days and I had to drive 85 miles before I found an open gas station on the Merritt Parkway (others were closed due to no power or sold out of gas or had lines of over 50 cars). If you've watched the news gas is out in NYC and limited in NJ. I could go on and on about the massive destruction I saw as I traveled around lower NYC but this is mostly a photo blog so I'm going to get to posting some photos. 

Here is an expanding series on NYC and Staten Island.  The forgotten Island just 5,000 feet from Manhattan really got slammed and the wreckage is hard to describe.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel entrance

One of hundreds of flooded out cars.

 

There were stark differences between the power uptown and downtown.

I happened to walk by a celebrity shooter out there?  Anyone recognize her?
Christy Turlington and perhaps that is her daughter - I assume so - but do not know for sure.

Yes there were houses out here.

Military helicopters buzz by with assistance for the victims.