KILLER STORM MANAGEMENT

Irene was still a monster storm after all the hype. The killer hurricane claimed lives and destroyed millions of dollars worth of New Yorkers’ personal property as well.
We think our elected representatives did a great job of recognizing the depth, breadth and potential for death and destruction from this unpredictable calamity of nature.
Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a State of Emergency as did Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the city and this time around even the MTA cancelled service before the first drops fell on their rails and airports.
The newly-designated Office of Emergency Management (OEM) evacuation centers were activated and hospitals and nursing homes were evacuated before the full force of 500-mile-wide Irene rolled through our area. The water’s edge communities that are prone to flooding were ordered evacuations too.
Of course we were inconvenienced but we all got the message – this was a dangerous storm and not a joke! Residents got their supplies early and hunkered down hoping that their power would stay up and the storm would pass them by.
Still, it was our mayor who comes out as a hero in this emergency.
By Monday morning, the city cranked back life and began the cleanup process in earnest. Nearly seven inches of rain flooded thousands of homes and businesses and nearly 400 trees were uprooted around Queens.
We send Kudos to the New York Fire Department (FDNY) who rescued hundreds in distress from flooded cars and streets. Con Edison worked around our area to restore power to the over 130,000 customers without service
We hope the mayor throws the book at the kayakers and surfers who distracted our emergency first responders and forced them to come to their rescue because they thought it would be fun or cool to challenge nature’s fury and put themselves in harm’s way.
Overall, this deadly storm could have been much worse. Fortunately, our OEM planners developed a great evacuation plan and our politicians set the wheels in motion early enough this time to save lives and property. Bravo to Bloomberg and Cuomo too.