New York City – a suddenly quiet city awaiting the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy’s fury today- Post # 6

New York, NY – Tuesday, October 30, 2012 – 1500 ET

Ralph Petti MBCI, CBCP

“Tuesday Afternoon”…such a lovely tune by The Moody Blues. In NYC, more like “Oh, What A Night”.

 

Given the fact that 95% of the transportation systems, compromised in the NY metropolitan area, are still out

, there are few ways to get around town except for a handful of Taxicabs and your own car.

 

The choice is yours – which do you like?  Flooded cabs in Hoboken, NJ or a Pile of Cars on Wall Street?

 

With the government and private sectors doing all that they can to get the city restarted, the grueling task of going from home-to-home looking for survivors who were told to evacuate from risky areas is continuing.  Many of these communities had mandatory evacuation orders, but some residents stayed.

 

 

Elsewhere, the waters are slow to recede as the NYC Subway will still not be running for a few more days and the bridges and tunnels are still closed as crews check for compromised subsystems.  With regard to healthcare, New York University Medical Center was evacuated last night and 500 patients were taken to alternate facilities as the floodwaters threatened and emergency power systems failed.

 

Finally, they won’t let us near the East River to see some of the area damage.  I guess we had our chance yesterday evening when the river crested and was within a block of our apartment.  Wow!

 

Ralph Petti, MBCI, CBCP is the President of Continuity Dynamics, Inc., an international firm focused on the areas of risk management, business continuity and disaster recovery planning. As a Member of The Business Continuity Institute, he is now sequestered in an apartment Manhattan’s Upper East Side with water and a myriad of supplies and is waiting for the storm to strike the NYC area tonight.  Mr. Petti has already been a guest subject matter expert on The Fox Business News Channel and is now sending frequent updates to The BCI. Reach him at Ralph.Petti@ContinuityDynamics.com or at 908.310.6381.