Without your reports, Deville, I would have no idea from reading the news that Staten Island was even affected by Sandy. You have to search to find news about it. The U.S. death toll from Sandy is now at 74. Fourteen of those people were in Staten Island. With nearly 20 percent of the total dead located in Staten Island, it seems odd that the Staten Island news coverage is so sparse.
Hurricane Sandy death toll on Staten Island climbs to 14
I understand better now why you feel lucky to be alive.
The media pretty much ignored us. They focused on 2 stories of loss of life but never the mass destruction that the storm surge left in it's wake. It wasn't until today Sen. Schumer & Gov. Cuomo focused on Staten Island.
This morning I had a run for FEDEX. My normal route to get to 278 (SIXPWY) was cut off so I decided to go as if I was going over the VZB. The water has receded on most of the main roads, darkness aside I wasn't preparfed for what I saw on Midland ave & Father Capodano blvd, which is shut down at seaview ave. There are just craters in the road.
The beachs, parks & board walk that I would ride my bike on or walk the dog during the summer, & was looking forward to taking my son to nect summer all within walking distance from my house are gone. All that's left is sand & wreckage.
Cedear grove beach, the beach in my immediate neighborhood that was basically a private beach for New Dorp beach, the beach I depended on the more than 1/4 mile deep & over a mile long beach to protect my neighbor hood washed away. The beach bungalow houses on that beach that have stood since the 20's that survived numerous storms & were used as homes for HBO's Broadwalk Empire wiped away.
Last night I pulled up the Google maps aireal for my area & I must have looked at that picture dozens of times over the years because I enjoyed looking at the over head & exploring it. That really screwed me up, I actually felt anxiety & guilt. Aniexty because I think now that it's all set in I realize how close we came to losing everything, guilty because I don't feel like I lost enough compared to those around me.
Walking the dog last night in the dark by the full moon light on Halloween was really uncomfortable.Very quiet & still.The dark doesn't scare me, but for some reason the darkness of my neighborhood bothered me very much.
Now getting back to business, there is a huge gas shortage in the Northeast. I filled up with Diesel over the weekend & my cars, but the gas in my van is gone. I spent a good part of today gas station hopping looking for a station with gas. Seeing gas lines in NY & NJ is somthing I only read about or remember my Father telling me about during the Carter era. From what i'm told that was nothing compared to what we are seeing now.
A local company that I do a lot of business with is pretty much shut down. They lost the office, the phones & most of the steady business we had is at a stand still. It's very hard to do business this week.
The sad thing is with so many people that are still without power out here really don't have the full effect of what has happened on the East shore of Staten Island, & the body count is rising. As of this moment we are up to 20.
