Getting Ready for Frankenstorm

Even now, some 24 hours or more before its expected peak, the numbers for the East Coast Frankenstorm are mind-numbing.  A half million people evacuated.  Some 60 million people potentially affected directly.Two of the world's major cities-- Washington and New York--virtually shut down.  Long Island suburbanities sandbagging.  Portable generators being shipped to the coast from inland stores.  Winds whipping the coast and down the streets of New York more than a day before its arrival.

Visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington on Sunday, President Obama vowed the federal government would "respond big and respond fast" after Sandy had passed. Mitt Romney famously suggested that FEMA be abolished.

President Obama has already declared that an emergency exists in Washington D.C., the states of New York and Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which triggers federal aid.

Indications now are Hurricane Sandy will make landfall in the Atlantic City area.  The Frankenstorm that is resulting from the clash of the hurricane with a winter storm system and other factors (including high tides and a full moon) is the second largest in area ever recorded.

President Obama added: "one of the things that Americans do is we pull together and we help out one another. And so, there may be elderly populations in your area. Check on your neighbor, check on your friend. Make sure that they are prepared. If we do, then we’re going to get through this storm just fine. But we’re going to have to make sure that we are vigilant, and vigilant for a couple of days. Don’t anticipate that just because the immediate storm has passed that we’re not going to have some potential problems in a lot of these communities going forward through the week."

At this point we can only hope that the most vulnerable are protected, and that this potentially huge and long-lasting storm, with its many different threats spares the many lives in its path.