This is Part 2 of 3, submitted by Escalon High School alum and NYC radio news anchor Steve Scott on "Surviving Sandy":
October 29th, Monday afternoon. Just as Craig Allen had predicted, Sandy crashed head on into the Jersey shore. The eye of the storm hit near Atlantic City. But, Craig had warned us to be wary of the northeast quadrant of the storm - it would pack the biggest storm surge. And, New York City was squarely in that "upper right hand" quadrant of the storm.
As our reporters down the shore battled heavy rain and wind, reporter Alex Silverman in Lower Manhattan described the water level of New York City Harbor rising at an alarming pace. With frightening quickness, the Atlantic Ocean climbed over the sea walls and flowed unabated into New York City. Alex watched as the car in front of him drove into a torrent of ocean water. Alex was able to make a U-turn and head for safety. He parked the car, and risking his own life, made his way through the pitch darkness of Wall Street and the rest of Lower Manhattan (the area was blacked out the moment salty water invaded Con Edison's underground electrical vaults). It became very obvious very quickly that the people who had ignored the evacuation orders would find themselves in grave danger. More than a hundred people would die in this storm; dozens of them would be in New York City.
I finally left WCBS at around 10:30 p.m., and stepped out into the eerie pitch darkness that was Lower Manhattan. The wind was still howling at around 70 miles per hour. I hadn't walked 10 feet out the front door of the building, when I tripped over a tree that had been blown down. Using my iPhone's flashlight app, I made my way up to deserted Hudson Street, using another iPhone app to record audio reports to send back to the radio station. At one point, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Instinctively, I raised my right arm defensively, and warded off a small piece of metal debris that the wind had ripped from a nearby scaffold. No harm - it didn't leave a mark.
WCBS had secured rooms for employees at some nearby hotels. Since Jeanne and I had a room in Midtown East, near the building she manages on Third Avenue, I had passed on staying at one of the station-provided hotels. Guess what? Like the rest of Lower Manhattan, those hotels lost power. Our place in Midtown never lost power. While my co-workers took cold showers by the light of their iPhones, we were lucky enough to have light and hot water. My challenge was getting back and forth between blacked out Lower Manhattan and our hotel in Midtown. That first night, as the storm continued to rage, Jeanne commandeered a taxi in the lighted part of town and paid the driver extra to drive into the dark and dangerous streets of the West Village to meet up with me.
Picture this: For nearly a week, none of the traffic signals south of 30th Street in Manhattan was working. Think New York City traffic is crazy under the best of conditions? Imagine no traffic signals!
To be continued...
*****
Please contact me if you have items for the Farmington News column. E-mail me at farmingtonnews@gmail.com or phone 896-6697.
October 29th, Monday afternoon. Just as Craig Allen had predicted, Sandy crashed head on into the Jersey shore. The eye of the storm hit near Atlantic City. But, Craig had warned us to be wary of the northeast quadrant of the storm - it would pack the biggest storm surge. And, New York City was squarely in that "upper right hand" quadrant of the storm.
As our reporters down the shore battled heavy rain and wind, reporter Alex Silverman in Lower Manhattan described the water level of New York City Harbor rising at an alarming pace. With frightening quickness, the Atlantic Ocean climbed over the sea walls and flowed unabated into New York City. Alex watched as the car in front of him drove into a torrent of ocean water. Alex was able to make a U-turn and head for safety. He parked the car, and risking his own life, made his way through the pitch darkness of Wall Street and the rest of Lower Manhattan (the area was blacked out the moment salty water invaded Con Edison's underground electrical vaults). It became very obvious very quickly that the people who had ignored the evacuation orders would find themselves in grave danger. More than a hundred people would die in this storm; dozens of them would be in New York City.
I finally left WCBS at around 10:30 p.m., and stepped out into the eerie pitch darkness that was Lower Manhattan. The wind was still howling at around 70 miles per hour. I hadn't walked 10 feet out the front door of the building, when I tripped over a tree that had been blown down. Using my iPhone's flashlight app, I made my way up to deserted Hudson Street, using another iPhone app to record audio reports to send back to the radio station. At one point, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Instinctively, I raised my right arm defensively, and warded off a small piece of metal debris that the wind had ripped from a nearby scaffold. No harm - it didn't leave a mark.
WCBS had secured rooms for employees at some nearby hotels. Since Jeanne and I had a room in Midtown East, near the building she manages on Third Avenue, I had passed on staying at one of the station-provided hotels. Guess what? Like the rest of Lower Manhattan, those hotels lost power. Our place in Midtown never lost power. While my co-workers took cold showers by the light of their iPhones, we were lucky enough to have light and hot water. My challenge was getting back and forth between blacked out Lower Manhattan and our hotel in Midtown. That first night, as the storm continued to rage, Jeanne commandeered a taxi in the lighted part of town and paid the driver extra to drive into the dark and dangerous streets of the West Village to meet up with me.
Picture this: For nearly a week, none of the traffic signals south of 30th Street in Manhattan was working. Think New York City traffic is crazy under the best of conditions? Imagine no traffic signals!
To be continued...
*****
Please contact me if you have items for the Farmington News column. E-mail me at farmingtonnews@gmail.com or phone 896-6697.
