Surviving Sandy

Hurricane Sandy happens not to be my first hurricane (or should I say "Superstorm"?).  One of the best breaking news non-events that I have ever covered was Hurricane Earl in 2010.  I was deployed by my bureau chief with waterproofs, head-torch and a pair of amphibious shoes to the North Carolina coast, to expectantly await the full force of nature.  

People in Atlantic Beach NC watch and wait for Hurricane Earl

As a journalist on the job, I was deeply impressed by the way in which the communities we visited coped with the imminent onslaught.  They battened down hatches and held hurricane parties - booze-fueled gatherings where locals would hole up together to have a good time and ride out the storm.  They were used to Mother Nature's regular pummelings, and approached Earl with a calm respect.

Thankfully, the only hurricane I witnessed in North Carolina on that deployment was the Category 4 storm of phone calls to my BlackBerry.  Voracious news networks were clamoring for a slice of hurricane action.  For those that know their hurricanes, Earl dissipated to become a tropical storm that, blessedly, reaped far less damage than predicted.  Many homes along the North Carolina coast were still flooded.  But Earl and his accompanying media entourage quickly died down.

Locals gather in an Atlantic Beach bar for a "hurricane party"

This time around, I've been extremely fortunate once again.  Living in Philadelphia, my family has been relatively sheltered from the worst of Sandy's ravages.  Those on the Jersey Shore and in parts of Manhattan haven't been so lucky.  Manhattan was brought to a complete standstill by a 13-foot surge of seawater - the worst inundation on record.  Atlantic City was literally subsumed by its namesake ocean.  Millions of people, from the Carolinas to Maine, were left in darkened homes.  Sandy is expected to cost the US $20 billion in property damage and potentially as much again in lost business.

But, at times like these, Americans never fail to impress me with their resourcefulness and their steadfastness.  NYU hospital nurses carried sick babies down nine flights of stairs while pumping them with oxygen, to evacuate them from a flooding building.  Firefighters tackling a huge blaze consuming 80 homes took to boats to rescue people from the burning buildings.  And the Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie cut through politics, at what is an intensely political time, to praise the President's "outstanding" response to the disaster.

When nature strikes, she shows no regard for class, race or political persuasion.  So, Unity seems to me to be an excellent place to see out a storm.  Americans get that, and take considerable pride in putting aside traditional divisions to help total strangers.  If I am less fortunate the next time a hurricane comes my way, there's honestly no place I'd rather be or people I'd rather be among.