Great post. I lived through Andrew in FL; you simply don't understand the power and damage associated with a real hurricane until you live through it.
Also, all that old Jersey Shore infrastructure was simply not built to withstand hurricanes.
Yeah, but that's *exactly* what I said. We got hit with the majority of the rain. DC. NJ got worse winds, to be sure, but we had 60-80mph winds here and they only 20mph higher, at worst.
Andrew was devestating because it was a devastating storm with insane winds. Sandy was devastating because it hit a bunch of ocean properties that hadn't been hit in decades. My point was exactly that. We got hit with more rain and a little less wind. We are smiling and relatively unharmed, they have total devastation.
In regards to JCA's "I'm an jerk." That is unquestionably true. But the fact still stands. The Mid Atlantic seaboard got hit roughly equally, hammered by a nasty storm. Yet NJ is in ruins because it's on the freaking beach. Look, I feel bad for them, no one should have to go through that. But if you don't want to go through that, don't live on the goddamn ocean. It is exactly like I said: In a year or twenty years, I'm not going to have a ton of compassion when thousands are killed in LA when the big one hits. Not because I don't care they die or suffer. But because you couldn't pay me enough to live in LA or SF. They'll get hit with a major earth quake in my lifetime. Just like the midwest, chances are you live your life there and encounter at least one tornado. Or Katrina, living in a city below sea level on the sea! Or all these beachhomes on the East Coast or cities by the ocean will get wiped out by a hurricane or a tsunami. I wouldn't even live near Yellowstone in the infinitely small chance the volcano goes.
You choose to live on the ocean, that's great, enjoy it. But enjoy it knowing this event was almost a given to happen in your lifetime, and probably will again. 9/11 was horrible. If a terrorist blows a nuke here and kills us all, that's horrible. But humanity seems to have this expectation this is our planet, and we have every right to live anywhere despite the realities of nature. As I said, I'm sure Pompeii was a beautiful place to live. But earthquakes on fault lines happen, hurricanes and tsunamis reclaim beachlands on a frequent basis. It's the price paid for living there, but this "how could this happen, why us" stuff is nuts. We got hit with the same storm and fared infinitely better. Because we don't live on the ocean.
Rant over.
