Elements of an emerging environmental and health care disaster
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The document outlines the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy on New York and New Jersey from October 30 to November 12, 2012, highlighting widespread flooding, power outages, and severe infrastructure damage. Federal assistance under FEMA was mobilized, with significant community support for recovery efforts, while ongoing problems, including gas shortages and health risks from environmental hazards, added to the crisis. The situation was exacerbated by a subsequent nor'easter, complicating recovery efforts and leading to further concerns about safety and health in the affected regions.
Elements of an emerging environmental and health care disaster
- 1. NEW YORK: LOOKING THROUGH DONATED CLOTHING
- 2. NEW YORK: TRASH ON STATEN ISLAND
- 3. NEW YORK: TRASH, DEBRIS, AND BOXES OF DONATED CLOTHING
- 4. POST-SANDY RESPONSE AND RECOVERY OCTOBER 30 – NOVEMBER 12, 2012
- 5. MORNING OF OCT. 30 NEW YORK CITY ON LOCK DOWN ROADS CLOSED TUNNELS CLOSED SUBWAY, TRAINS, AND AIRPORTS CLOSED WIDE-SPREAD POWER OUTAGES HIGH VOLUME OF 911 CALLS THAT CAN’T BE ANSWERED EFFICIENTLY STOCK EXCHANGES CLOSED SCHOOLS CLOSED
- 7. MORNING OF OCT. 30 : NEW JERSEY FLOODED NO PART OF NEW JERSEY WAS ABLE TO ESCAPE THE EXCEPTIONAL AND UNTHINKABLE FLOODING FROM SANDY’S SURGE
- 8. HOUSES IN RUINS: SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY
- 9. OCT. 30 The President ordered FEMA to organize Federal assistance under standing legislation (the Stafford Act)
- 10. HELP FROM EVERYWHERE BEGINS • Millions of $ donated by strangers. • American Red Cross providing food, water, medicine, and temporary shelter. • Samaritan’s Purse (just one example) providing food, water, counseling, and assistance in removal of mud and mould from flooded homes. • Utility crews from nearby states coming to help restore power and services.
- 11. VOLUNTEERS CLEANING UP IN QUEENS, NEW YORK
- 12. POST-SANDY PROBLEMS IN CARIBBEAN AND BAHAMAS • Sandy has come and gone, but serious response and recovery problems of many kinds linger on in the Caribbean and the Bahamas. • The threat of cholera in Haiti, already hit in 2010 and 2011 by an earthquake and a hurricane, is but one example.
- 13. THE INITIAL CONDITIONS IN NY AND NJ WERE GRIM • Widespread power outages • People with little or no food stranded in homes that are flooded and cold because of the power outages and change in the weather. • Standing water and debris everywhere. • Burned-out areas in Breezy Point, Queens Borough, NY
- 14. A DARK NEW YORK CITY
- 15. BURNED-OUT AREA, QUEENS BOROUGH, NEW YORK
- 16. NEW JERSEY: ATLANTIC CITY UNDER WATER
- 17. HOBOKEN NEW JERSEY: TAXIS UNDER WATER
- 18. UNUSUAL DEBRIS: BOAT ON METRO NORTH’S TRACKS IN NY
- 19. THE INITIAL CONDITIONS IN NY AND NJ WERE GRIM • Salt water in tunnels, subways, and homes (Note: Salt water is a conductor) that could burn when the electricity is restored to homes and businesses). • Additional dead bodies being discovered.
- 20. FLOODED CAREY TUNNEL, NY (AKA BROOKLYN BATTERY)
- 21. SEVENTY-TWO DEATHS ALONG EASTERN SEABOARD (as of NOV. 3) Preliminary Loss Estimate: $50 Billion
- 22. DEBRIS IN NEW JERSEY
- 23. THE INITIAL CONDITIONS WERE GRIM (continued) • Millions are weary and discouraged • Inadequate communication is the norm. • Millions are unable to commute to jobs, many of which are not open anyway, due to impassable roads, traffic jams, and no metro or no gas. • Food and water shortages.
- 24. NEW JERSEY: NOV. 2, 2012
- 25. DEALING WITH GAS SHORTAGES • New Jersey’s Gov. Christie signed an Executive Order on Friday night, Nov. 2, to ration gasoline for cars in 12 New Jersey counties. • Under Christie's order, car owners with odd numbered license plates can get gas on odd days, and car owners with even numbered license plates can get gasoline on even days.
- 26. TAXIS UNDER WATER: NEW YORK CITY
- 27. OTHER CONDITIONS THE FIRST FIVE DAYS (Oct. 30-Nov. 3) • Horrific traffic jams in downtown Manhattan (if you could drive) • Long lines of people and cars waiting for gas at all local service stations • No gas at many service stations • Gas at some service stations, BUT no generators to provide the electricity to pump the gas.
- 28. CONDITIONS ON DAYS SIX AND SEVEN (Nov. 4-5) • Lines over 1-mile-long (1,6 km) of angry people and cars waiting 1-2 hours for 1-2 gallons of gas and power generators. • Feeling of isolation and abandonment, especially at night, for millions. • Growing mountains of trash in some locations creating a fire hazard.
- 29. DEALING WITH COMMUTING PROBLEMS IN NEW YORK • The first limited bus and train services came to life, but many of the buses were quickly filled to capacity, creating enormous lines to get on them and forcing drivers to skip stops and roll past hordes of waiting passengers
- 30. CONDITIONS ON DAYS SIX AND SEVEN (Nov. 4-5) • Over 1.3 million residents still without electricity, waiting in cold, damp houses without cell phone service, refusing to go to heated shelters because of fear of looting if they leave their homes. • Fuel oil spills in New York Harbor.
- 31. DAY 10-11: BAD NEWS A Nor’easter is expected on Wednesday-Thursday, November 8-9.
- 32. NOR’EASTER
- 33. FORECAST OF NOR’EASTER: THIRSDAY, NOV. 8, 2012
- 34. NOR’EASTER’S NEGATIVE IMPACTS EXACERBATE RECOVERY • Wind of up to 50 mph (85 kph) in New Jersey and New York, with downed trees and power outages from a blanket of heavy, wet snow • Prolonged power outages
- 35. DAY 10: SNOW IN NEW YORK: THURSDAY, NOV. 8
- 36. SNOW IN NEW YORK: THURSDAY, NOV. 8
- 37. SNOW IN NEW YORK: THURSDAY, NOV. 8
- 38. SNOW AT NEW YORK’S UNION STATION: THURSDAY, NOV. 8
- 39. DAY 12: SATURDAY, NOV. 10 GAS RATIONING • Gas rationing in effect in New York and New Jersey.
- 40. DAY 13:SUNDAY, NOV. 11: MANY WITHOUT POWER IN NEW YORK • Power outages still persist in Long Island for 130,000 people. • Power expected to be restored by Tuesday, NOV. 13, except for over 10,000 houses that are too risky to be powered up until after dewatering of wet basements is completed.
- 41. FEMA APPROVES $411 MILLION TO ACCELERATE CLEAN UP
- 42. About 6,400 linemen and 3,700 tree trimmers are at work, compared with 200 linemen on a normal day.
- 43. DAY 14:MONDAY, NOV. 12TH AN EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH CARE DISASTER New York’s Long Island and Staten Island, and parts of New Jersey
- 44. ELEMENTS OF AN EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER • Oil spills and toxic wastes affect soil, air, and water • Back up of sewage systems into homes and portions of the community make a bad situation worse.
- 45. ELEMENTS OF THE EMERGING HEALTH CARE DISASTER • Mould growing in homes • Breathing problems • Skin rashes • Residents can’t get out to the doctor’s office for medications, or the doctor’s office is not functioning