Category Archives: Reporting Notes
Protected: Reporter’s Notes: Hurricane Sandy Relief
Hurricane Sandy Post: Neighborhood
Hurricane Sandy is the most harmful storm that I have every witnessed in my life.
I live in queens, and many of my neighbors were heavily impacted by the storm. The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy has affected everyone differently, some homes were completely destroyed, while other homes had immense flood damage.
The flood damage wiped away priceless belongings, and was harmful to a family’s home. In queens, many neighbors were hit badly, the most is Breezy Point. I knew of someone who lost their home in this neighborhood. They had packed a bag and went to the evacuation center, only to return home to find that the house no longer stood.
In my area, the power poles were down, wires criss-crossed in the street, and fallen trees covered every inch of the roads. You couldn’t step anywhere without putting danger to yourself and your loved ones. A few cars on Merrick Boulevard was broken or smashed by a fallen tree. New license plates faced the worst of the weather, the owners were distraught and the neighborhood was still in silence.
This storm has torn so many families upside down, and the city is facing a huge loss. New York was hit with a full force, and so was New Jersey. Landline was down, WIFI was non-existent and the internet was not even on anyone’s mind. We were all facing incredible weather and trying to figure out the next action step to take.
I hope that New York is able to move forward and repair the damage that was brought on to many families. Today, there are still some who has no power in their homes. I never realized how much we relied on the availability of electricity and technology for everything. It was not noticeable at the time, but now, with so many homes in the dark.
It is horrible to view and to be surrounded in your neighborhood that has been through this ordeal by Hurricane Sandy.
Protected: Notes: Battery Park City
Protected: Reporter’s Notes: 11/14/12
Protected: Hurricane Sandy in NJ. It was an experience!
Reporter’s Notes: Hurricane Sandy in Morris Park
It has been about two weeks since Hurricane Sandy has ravaged Nyc and the tri-state area. Unfortunately, many are still suffering and trying to rebuild their lives day by day. I’m truly thankful that I wasn’t greatly affected by the hurricane, with the exception of the effects is has caused on my school work. In my neighborhood; Morris Park, the most significant issues were power outages, fallen trees, and scattered debris. It was surprising that the items and trees I pass daily in my neighborhood became weapons and a source of harm towards the residents of the area.In front of my cousin’s home, which is only 3-4 blocks away from my house; a large tree that stood in front of her house, was torn out of the ground by the strong winds.
In front of my cousin’s home, a large tree is uprooted and tears down powerlines
The tree was entangled with the power lines to the entire street, so, as the tree split in half, it tore down the power lines leaving the street and the homes in complete darkness for over a week and a half. I do commend the sanitation department, with the exception of my cousin’s block, all debris and branches were being picked up the next day. They (sanitation) were willing to help residents get rid of large branches that were blocking the roads.
Although Morris Park’s physical damage was minimal, the rat race for gas by thursday morning was ridiculous. There was a line that wrapped around the entire block of vehicles waiting to fill up, and an even longer line of gas container toting individuals. At one point the atmosphere became so hectic that the need for a police presence was necessary.
Hurricane Sandy has definitely shaken the north eastern part of the country up a bit. The nonchalant attitude of ” it won’t happen to us,” has been diminished. I am proud to witness the city come together and help each other out during this hard time. This is a testament to what New yorkers are made of, we have tried to regain normalcy as much as possible, and attempt to rebuild what is lost. This is what we represent, resilience.
Reporter’s note
On the Halloween evening on 31st October, I went for a walk to see how people are going to celebrate the day after the super storm Sandy. It seemed the storm could not stop neighbors in Jackson Heights from putting their Halloween masks on faces. Kids were overflowing streets in their various and colorful Halloween costumes, such as batmans, supermans, wizards, gorillas, skeleton, princess, fairies and many more. They were knocking door to door, store to store for Halloween candies with buckets in hands. Not only kids were happily chosen to become mythical characters as Halloween theme, but also parents were equally dressed up for the Halloween besides their children.
Watching the Halloween crowd on streets, no one can imagine that two days ago the same streets were completely empty during the storm. People were stayed homes all day, glued their eyes on news channels, and tried to contact with family and friends to find out how they were doing? There were only few groceries and restaurants were opened on 74th and 75th Streets. The streets were like a dead zone.
After spent two days at home without doing any outside activities, people from all ages enjoyed their time outside on the Halloween day, and went back home with lots of Halloween candies.