Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer estimates half of her city is flooded and as many as 25,000 people are stranded and without power as flooded streets are impassable not only for citizens but for rescuers.
Zimmer told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Tuesday night,
They're in their buildings and half of Hoboken is literally flooded and under water. And so, yeah we don't have the- we have two payloaders and we're going in and when we get the calls. And we're trying to go in where we can to help people but the payloader cannot ... we have small city streets and payloaders cannot fit down all the city streets and that's the only vehicles that we have to get down the city streets. And so we're begging and pleading and trying to get the National Guard to give us the equipment to be able to get in.
Despite the departure of Hurricane Sandy, conditions in the city across the Hudson River from New York are only worsening as the storm's effects become a new disaster. Zimmer described her concerns about the flood waters:
I’m just worried about too we've got live wires in the waters and the waters are completely contaminated and getting more contaminated, um, every minute really, because there are—North Hudson Sewage was completely flooded out. It’s rain water mixed with sewage water—it’s becoming more sewage water.
Asked by Maddow to estimate how many people she believes are stranded, Mayor Zimmer replied, "I’d say about 20 to 25 thousand people are still stranded in Hoboken."
Leave a Comment:
Rachel, you are right about the RED CROSS.....First they will be setting up cots in Gyms, Churches etc for those left with no place to go from the storm. These cots and blanket etc. Need to be uniform for storage and quick set up. They Won't be into hot food because of the lack of electric and gas. No cooking going on.....don't send odds and ends canned food. They will be buying bake goods, bottled water, and making sandwiches. Simple quick foods. Nothing fancy. Money, Money, Money is needed as quickly as possible.....this is an emergency.....they haven't time to sort and store.
Rachel and crew - any word on the travel by car in and out of city? Can't get in touch with my son - I know he has no power, heat, or hot water - cell reception is almost non-existent - one call I did get early today - kept dropping the call and terrible reception while talking. he's a student at FIT which I'm sure will be closed-he can't get there anyway! thanks!
That was a great point tonight, that funds get to the people faster and do more help.
Kathy - Try texting. My girl friend lives in Hoboken and hasn't had power for the last 2 days, no heat although she said it was 66 in her house last night and can light her gas stove with matches if she had to. She also has no cell phone service.
About a foot a water flooded into her garage, but she knew to move her car to a higher parking deck because her street flooded last time there was a hurricane. Her land line phone is VOIP and thus doesn't work because of the power loss. She has heard that to expect no power for 1 week. She will charge her cell using her car tomorrow. I was texted her information about what was going in her town and I live in LA.
She is basically bored because she can't do anything, go anywhere. Her job is in Jersey City and which is also out of power. She napped today and read. She said good night to me at 6PM her time to save her remaining juice on her cell and to go to bed. She did charge her Kindle before the power outage because she anticipated the power being out. Her parents live in Freehold, but there's no point in going there because they don't have power either. Mostly she wants to hang out with someone, but all of her friends are all hunkering down and basically waiting for the power to be restored.
I am sure your son is fine and safe but is going stir crazy because he is completely bored and can not do anything. He will call you as soon as he gets some power, but do try to text him.
http://xkcd.com/1127/large/
After seeing all those cabs under water, now I may know how India feels.
We had a flood in '97 in Reno. Water up to stop signs. About five years ago, two days of rain gave us something similar in our HOA. It's hard to fathom how water can be both passive and destructive.
Rachel - Its a terrible idea to have the rest of the nation fund burying power lines for New Jersey residents. That funding should come from the rate payers of PSE&G and the other affected utility rate payers, not by the federal government i.e. tax payers in the rest of the country.
Its why FEMA should not insure millionaires who have beach front homes who have their beach front homes rebuilt every time there is a storm.
So Hank, you don't believe we're a United States but 50 seperate State with every person for themselves?
FEMA doesn't insure millionaires. Millionaires buy flood insurance like the rest of us. However, You can't get FEMA money unless you buy flood insurance. My elderly father's house was flooded in a freak flood (they are on a mountain and a drain got stopped up in a storm.) They decided it was cheaper to fix the house then buy flood insurance that probably would never be needed again.
I DO agree the utilities should do the burying because they benefit the most from it. Maybe some matching funds from the government.
Populated areas should have buried lines. The cost of the Infrastructure improvement would create jobs, and reduces future costs. Very few new homes in populated areas have an overhead line coming to them. Economic analysis would indicate payback periods.
Hank, underground lines are needed all over the country, not just NJ. Dang, dude, c'mon - THINK! The point isn't even the lines - the point is that these storms are not going away, and our infrastructure will not get better by itself, and there are commen sense solutions available right now, like underground lines.
Don't be silly. We're not states, we're 300-some million rugged individuals who can take care of ourselves -- and anyone who can't isn't worth worrying about.
Yeah just ignore these rugged individuals depend on everyone else because they lack the skills to survive on their own, I can just see them gutting animals, curing the skins and making clothes from those skins. If you put the Mitt wit out in the woods with only a knife and hand axe 3 weeks later you would find them dead from starvation wearing poison ivy leaves. As well as missing an arm and leg from being dumb enough to try to talk to Yogi and Boo Boo.
the Red Cross should visit Peru. A few people can cook a hot meal in huge pots (beans or other nutritious food) for hundreds of people. You can't distribute individually wrap meals for 20,000. The amount of garbage would be disgusting to see.
Fernando. Who is supplying the cooking heat? If you do not have power, unless you have some firewood and a dry place to put it, you have a problem.
After a summer, along with early fall season .. of "lying" to the masses, daily, presidential
hopeful(wanna be) "Mit Romney", seeks redemption, passing out dry blankets and cans of soup to Storm victims. (He really does, "care".)I get the terrible feeling that Hoboken is going to smell really bad when it dries out.
Have you ever been to Hoboken?
Given the terrible destruction that just occurred, we should not lose sight of how few lives appear to be lost during the initial onslaught. It is a sign of effective preparation.
Scientists who observed and accurately predicted the size, force, and trajectory of this storm work for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. NOAA was formed in 1970, under the direction of President Nixon. who "proposed creating NOAA to serve a national need '...for better protection of life and property from natural hazards...for a better understanding of the total environment...[and] for exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources...'" (see: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/grounders/noaahistory.html )
The precursor to NOAA is the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, created in 1807 during Thomas Jefferson's second administration (see: http://www.history.noaa.gov/legacy/coastsurvey.html )
We still have a long way to go. However, while property is taking a hit during this storm, our President and the governors and mayors of the swamped states and cities are thus far acting effectively to protect lives. They are doing so within governmental frameworks established shortly after the founding our our nation. Keeping those frameworks strong, keeps us strong.
The real hell comes with anything that must go through Congress to be released. The President should ask John Boehner to hold one of those telephone votes before November 6th and approve setting money aside for recovery and re-development. There were people in New Orleans who spent years trying to get recovery money to say nothing about how the urgency of Congress faded with President Bush.
LEAVING DEBT TO OUR CHILDREN: We spend so much time worrying about the debt of our Country and leaving it to our children that we totally ignore the Country with a rotting infrastructure we are leaving them instead. How many parents are leaving their children an old car that barely runs to help them meet their future.