Hurricanes are one of the most interesting weather patterns to me. Comparing them to Tornadoes is like comparing a painting done with a fine brush and a large brush, they will never been the same, both interesting, but never the same. When I first moved to Austin, Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, leaving behind devastation, sadness, loss, and a really interesting urban planning project. Should we rebuild New Orleans *knowing* it is below sea level and seeing exactly what that means?
With Hurricane Sandy in New York recently, we have another interesting and challenging urban planning issue. I have read many blogs about whether or not FEMA is actually holding us back, because cities would be forced to upgrade to prevent these types of disasters or would be eliminated all together if they knew they could not depend on the federal government at all. This sparked my government major side in questioning just how independent a country is. Without FEMA and other disaster relief type of assistance, would cities even want to be associated with the national government or would this country turn into a big conglomeration of little governments with no over-arching government connecting them? (probably not, but it would be interesting to see how far cities are willing to go to maintain their connection to the county, state, federal levels with diminished funding).
What really amazes me about disasters like this is not the government, but the individual people. People have gone around saving others, working tirelessly to help others, and finding new strength in themselves to provide for someone else. One man waded into the flood waters to save a cab driver from drowning during the storm. It is people like this that make me realize the world has so many good people in it. I would never expect to be saved in a situation like that, but I sure hope someone would be there to help me out. There are also heart breaking stories though, one that many people have heard is the story of the woman who lost her two young boys in the storm surge and ended up spending the whole storm outside on a porch because no one would let her into their house. However, one older woman, was able to help her neighbors by carrying water and supplies up their 21 story building. I hope I'm as strong and alive as she is at that age!
There are still so many ways to help, either donating, or volunteering, or acting as moral support for people who have lost so much.
But let's get back to urban planning. When the storm surge came in and the winds picked up, the New York subway system began to flood, and there was no way to stop it. Post Sandy, only part of the system was operable, (see the image for post-Sandy operations) and the city began getting buses together to shuttle the people across the Brooklyn Bridge and around town, borrowing buses from nearby cities that could spare them (CTA sent some from Chicago to New Jersey) and working with whatever they could to get people around the city. Gas was in short supply and many buses and some trains were ruined in the storm. With such an amazing sudden loss of access, and I'm sure personnel (at least I would assume not everyone was going to work that morning, hopefully not to a more permanent loss) it would be difficult to operate a transit agency. This is why agencies need to have a disaster plan in place. When Katrina came through and everything flooded many buses were lost because bus drivers were home evacuating their own homes. This is not to say that the public good is more important than the private home, but transit agencies should take into account a dramatic reduction of personnel when planning evacuation plans, or should evacuate much earlier than would be necessary. Just looking at the subway map without many routes on it, one can begin to imagine how many buses would be needed to move people to and from all of those now empty from public transit areas. Not only do these buses need to be there to move people, the agency must figure out how to get them into these areas across devastated roadways and must begin to figure out where people need to go. Many people will be not going to work but rather to hospitals, evacuation locations, and to take advantage of resources out of the norm for a regular day. Transit routes will be dramatically different in this area during the time of recovery, and MTA is now responsible for producing a temporary plan in less than a day. I applaud the people working at MTA who were able to respond do this disaster quickly and who tried their hardest to still make sure people were able to get to work, home, friends' homes, and to assist with disaster relief. It isn't every day you must dramatically change how transit in a city works and I hope that New York residents are able to appreciate transit much more after this disaster.
I don't know what I would have done to deal with this as a transit agency, I think there really is no time to think of it, as you never know what the situation is when a disaster hits. When Chicago had the Blizzaster last year people were forced to play roles they usually did not, workers from the headquarters shoveled bus stops and helped give information to riders, and everyone was doing their part to help out. The most essential part of a transit agency being able to address the needs of customers during a disaster is having flexible employees. I think both Chicago and New York were able to respond to the changed needs during their disasters because everyone was willing to step in. I guess I should get my bus driving license to when the time comes I will be really valuable!
Also, watch this video, it almost made me cry.
And this one about Breezy Point and the fire that tore through the neighborhoods there even during a huge flood.
R
