"We're from the government and we are here to help."Meanwhile: the US Post Office -- Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
"Hey, we're from FEMA -- you know that federal emergency agency -- we're closing shop due to weather." (Their clipboards will get wet.)
I can't make this stuff up.
I assume the Red Cross and Salvation Army will remain behind when FEMA leaves due to weather.
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And then this: Long gasoline lines likely for weeks post-Sandy.
This is quite remarkable. I thought they were making progress. Link here to NBC New York. It's not gonna help that the election is over and recovery efforts take on less urgency at the federal level.
Significant damage to northern New Jersey petroleum distribution facilities -- including the region’s largest refinery -- could keeps lines long at the gasoline pumps for weeks, ....
When Sandy came ashore last week, the Bayway Refinery in Linden, N.J. took on 12 feet of salt water, ....
Floodwaters damaged critical equipment, hampering the facility’s ability to pump gasoline into pipelines that are typically accessed by tanker trucks.
I didn't see FEMA mentioned in the article.The Bayway refinery is the most productive refinery in the tri-state region, processing about 238,000 barrels of crude oil per day. On the East Coast, Bayway is second only to a plant operated by Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which has a production capacity of 335,000 barrels a day.
I was in the flood in Grand Forks in '97 and I now live in NYC and had to evacuate, I have family in Queens that lost everything.
ReplyDeleteFEMA has been an amazing source of help for both of us, we don't know what we'd do without them. I'm so grateful we have the same FEMA I experienced in '97 and not the same one those in New Orleans experienced.
I have not had experience with FEMA so perhaps I should not knock them like I do, but it certainly seems they over-promise and under-deliver. That may not be their fault. Some of us may be expecting more than is physically possible. And I'm also prejudiced by growing up in an area and an age when I don't recall seeing much federal assistance following disasters.
DeleteBut, there was a bit of irony for a FEMA closing down for the reason cited. I sort of expect FEMA to be a bit more accustomed to environmental challenges than postal carriers are, but perhaps not as much as the military.