Hurricane Irene was a bust. A good bust, but a bust nonetheless. Despite the panic by New York City's Mayor Bloom Bloomberg (new name in honor of his trembler-in-arms, Chris Christie), not much happened. Yes, some minor flooding, water puddling, tree falls and the like, but a tropical storm does that, dumps a lot of water and fells some trees in a short period of time.
As to Bloomberg's declaration of necessity to SHUT DOWN the subway system and to halt bus transportation nearly a DAY BEFORE Irene arrived, well.... Christie was equally nuts. He ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Jersey shore areas over 36 hours before the rain and wind. Most left the beaches on a bright 80 degree sunny day... And shutting down the Garden State Parkway for 98 miles a day ahead of the precipitation, ahem... And closing the Atlantic City casinos...
Sure,
lives saved will be the mantra of these jumpy men. Indeed, who could argue with that? Think for a minute... anytime any activity is restricted, say driving or boating or traveling, lives will be saved. But problematic in their recent governance is the lack of respect for the rights of citizens to decide their actions in the face of the storm. In this case, both leaders overstepped their bounds in acting too soon. They thought the weather disturbance was going to be more serious. If they had waited, it would have been clear that the punch of the storm was left behind hundreds of miles south of the the City and Jersey.
Most people are smart enough to get out of the rain, move to higher ground and not swim with sharks. Neither man gave any respect to the intelligence of their constituencies. By reacting as they both did, they needlessly frightened everyone. But aren't fear and panic hero makers? (Not to be given short shrift, both of these blokes failed in last winter's snow emergency. Consequently both men overreacted on this one.)
No matter, it's mostly over. Over the next few days the water will recede and normalcy will return. But normalcy has been ratcheted up a notch on the side of Big Brother. Somehow it's hard to believe Bloom and Chris (and the others of their ilk, too) are not trendsetters of bossy future restraints.
Here are some images posted of HuffPo.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/28/hurricane-irene-new-york_n_939759.html#s342000 and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/28/nyc-hurricane-flooding-in_n_939543.html#s341847 They capture the flavor of the weekend mess.
Also, find a few other Irene entries,
http://www.pplume-blog.com/2011/08/if-you-dont-follow-this-people-may-die.html and
http://www.pplume-blog.com/2011/08/scared-shitless-and-shut-down.html and
http://www.pplume-blog.com/2011/08/irene-saves-world.html and
http://www.pplume-blog.com/2011/08/hurricane-irene-to-eat-new-jersey.html
A tropical rainstorm...
E cosi va
