Here we are, three day after Hurricane Sandy hit, getting happy for small things, like the return of limited bus service. Since people have to go to work, and the roads became a nightmare, as people tried to drive into Manhattan, creating the mother of all gridlocks, the city decided to operate buses from certain key points in Brooklyn to take people across the bridges into Manhattan. This was all good, but when they said it was FREE, you can imagine the crush of people this created.
A friend of mine told me that it was unbelievable. She said that the lines were insane! People who had to go to work and had no other way of getting there, were getting in line since six in the morning. She said that when she finally was able to get into a bus, which reminded her of those crowded buses you see in the movies about third world countries, it was so packed that she was squashed against the door. And the bus driver kept telling people to announce well ahead of time the street you wanted to get off, she did, and told me that for her to get out, five people had to get out also--that's how packed it was.
Limited service also came to the subways, but they were only running in upper Manhattan, nothing was running below 34th Street, as lower Manhattan lost power -- due to an electric service station blowing up, and electricity being shut down on purpose due to the flooded subways. In Brooklyn, train service was also running, but only in certain areas, in other areas they were running shuttle buses, to provide transport where the trains were not running.
People whose business is to cut down trees were in high demand, so business was booming for them. Everywhere you walked or drove to you saw people cleaning up, in the most affected areas you saw all kinds of stuff discarded in front of homes and businesses. It was sad to see whole houses destroyed, and people trying to pick the pieces of their lives. The only consolation you could offer them was that at least, for those who were lucky, they had not lost loved ones. For those that lost loved ones, all you could do was console them.
