Landfall

As I write this, an intensified hurricane Sandy is about to make landfall in New Jersey, and the effects are just beginning.  Nothing so far indicates that predictions about the breadth and power of this storm were exaggerated.  There already has been several feet of snow and blizzard conditions in West Virginia and parts of Virginia, and waves along the ocean along the New York coast are dauntingly high already, when the storm surge has yet to begin.

So my thoughts are with my friends in central Pennsylvania that looks still to be on the storm's direct path, and family and friends in western Pennsylvania at the predicted edge of the storm but well within its effects of rain and wind.  I kept thinking of one of my sisters and her house at the bottom of a hill, close to a little creek.  And Margaret's son and granddaughter, and one of my nieces in Pittsburgh. 

But the most vulnerable are those with the least resources, who live closest to the edge in normal times.  We're fortunate to have President Obama, closely monitoring the storm and the needs in the affected areas from the Situation Room in the White House.  I just received an email, usually a campaign donation solicitation, but this time it's for the Red Cross.

We're fortunate as well to have Craig Fugate, who President Obama appointed to head FEMA.  He's a very impressive man.  He has returned FEMA to a truly professional and adept emergency management agency. 

Stay safe.