Hurricane Sandy's Victims Get Cookies and Hot Chocolates from Red Cross

New York's Staten Islanders are furious.

From CBS New York (11/2/2012):

Staten Islanders On Sandy Response: We’ve Been Left FAR Behind

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Staten Island residents are furious. They feel that in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy they’ve been ignored and left to fend for themselves.

CBS 2′s Jessica Schneider toured the borough on Thursday night and saw one home on Cedar Grove Avenue that looks like it was torn to shreds by a tornado.

However, it was surging ocean waters that tore the house apart, and filled others with more than 10 feet of water.

It’s that type of apparent neglect that has left residents saying they haven’t received the attention or help they so desperately need.

“Red Cross is here with hot chocolate and cookies. We need blankets, we need pillows, we need clothing. We can get hot chocolate and cookies, we need help!” resident Jodi Hannula said.

It was almost too much for Hannula to bear. She said she had 30 years of memories washed away by flood waters.

And with no flood insurance, she said she’s been pleading for help, but finding little.

“You hope that the government does the right thing and steps in and helps us out. We have been looking for FEMA, [but] FEMA has not been here,” Hannula said.

People on Staten Island argued that they’ve been neglected while other parts of New York City, and the Jersey Shore, have been showered with attention.

“We are far from fine, and the fact that the mayor wants to have a marathon this weekend, when we’ve had people who have lost their lives or house, everything they’ve worked for their whole lives … I mean, its unbelievable to me,” Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis said.

Amid the damage there was also death. Of the 37 known fatalities from the storm in the city, 17 were killed on Staten Island.

...Residents were organizing a huge cleanup day on Saturday. They said if no one else is going to help them restore their community — Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was to visit Staten Island Friday in response to the community’s complaints — they’re going to do it on their own.

(Full article at the link)

New York Marathon is on, this Sunday. It starts on Staten Island.

I'm sure it's Mayor Bloomberg's way to appeal the recovery and strength of New York City to the world, and cheer the local residents recovering from the disaster by hosting the annual international event with huge generators in Central Park for the media covering the event.

If you feel this sounds all too familiar, just substitute New York City with either Japan, Tokyo, or Fukushima. All of them work.

Luckily for the mayor, he doesn't have any radioactive cesium to deal with.

(In Japan, even that didn't stop the government from sticking to the schedule. Soon after March 11, 2011, the government decided to hold local election nationwide, as scheduled, partly to appeal to its citizens and people outside that in Japan, an accident, no matter how big, could not and would not derail a set schedule. People dutifully went outside, in the spring rain, to listen to candidates as radioactive materials quietly descended on them.)

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Hurricane Sandy Shut Down 3 Nuke Plants in NY, NJ

Nine Mile Point (Unit 1), Indian Point (Unit 3) in the State of New York were automatic shutdowns because of electrical grid problems. Salem (Unit 1) in New Jersey was manually shut down because of high river water levels and debris in the water.

Oyster Creek (NJ)'s alert due to the high water levels at the water intake remains.

From NRC press release (10/30/2012, 10AM; emphasis is mine):

NRC MAINTAINS HEIGHTENED WATCH OVER NUCLEAR PLANTS IMPACTED BY SANDY; THREE REACTORS EXPERIENCED SHUTDOWNS DURING STORM; OYSTER CREEK PLANT REMAINS IN ALERT

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission continues to maintain its heightened watch over nuclear power plants in the Northeastern U.S. impacted by Sandy. Three reactors experienced shutdowns during the storm while another plant, Oyster Creek in New Jersey, remains in an “Alert” due to high water levels in its water intake structure.

The three reactors to experience trips, or shutdowns, during the storm are Nine Mile Point 1 in Scriba, N.Y., Indian Point 3 in Buchanan, N.Y.; and Salem Unit 1 in Hancocks Bridge, N.J.

Nine Mile Point 1 underwent an automatic shutdown at about 9 p.m. Monday when an electrical fault occurred on power lines used to send power to the grid. It is likely a storm-related event, but the plant’s operators are still evaluating the cause. All plant safety systems responded as designed and the shutdown was safely carried out. Meanwhile, Nine Mile Point 2 experienced a loss of one of two incoming off-site power lines as a result of the fault. One of the plant’s emergency diesel generators started in response to generate power usually provided by the line. Nine Mile Point 2 remained at full power.

Indian Point 3 automatically shut down at about 10:40 p.m. Monday in response to electrical grid disturbances caused by the storm. All safety systems responded as designed and the unit was placed in a safe shutdown condition.

Salem Unit 1 was manually shut down by plant operators at about 1:10 a.m. Tuesday as a result of circulating-water pumps being affected by high river level and debris in the waterway. The circulating-water system is used to cool down steam generated by the reactor; it is a closed system that does not come into contact with any radioactivity.

At Oyster Creek, the Alert was declared at approximately 8:45 p.m. An alert is the second-lowest level of emergency classification used by the NRC. The Alert was preceded by an “Unusual Event” at about 7 p.m. when the water level first reached a minimum high water level criteria. The water level rose due to a combination of a rising tide, wind direction and storm surge. While the water level has dropped since peaking earlier today, the Alert will not be exited until the level is below the specific criteria for the intake structure, which is where water from an intake canal is pumped into the plant for cooling purposes. Oyster Creek was shut down for a refueling and maintenance outage prior to the storm and the reactor remains out of service.

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