Hurricane Irene, Manhattan, August 28th 2011

Yeah, there was a lot of media hype on what could have been disastrous for a city unprepared for hurricanes, let alone an earthquake (both in one week! does anyone get that our earth is angry? ...another blog) Call it lady luck or whatever (tons of good jokes circling out there from Mayor Bloombito's attempt at Spanglish to bad masking taped windows - yes Soho Apple store, to LA's Craig Ferguson "thousands have been left with no power. They’re called Democrats.” ergh!!), hurricane Irene for us became a scary tropical storm, with little damage. Of course our Mayor needed to be overly post Katrina cautious in pre-hurricane preparations such as moving all those unfortunate hospital patients to safer buildings while shutting down our mass transit for the first time in history. We had no idea how bad the hurricane damage would be, something that could have had a much different outcome.

The rain came and was fierce but quickly turned into a light shower. One of my bedroom windows has an open, clear view North, where I felt the heaviest wind during the night that scared the hell out of me. The monster like howling gave way to the curtains blowing horizontally clear across the room. Then it just stopped, and then started up again. And then stopped, and started. Went on like that all night.

For myself, besides having to cancel last weekend's sessions and this one, I also lost a lot of photography workshop participants who were out-of-towners in the city only for that weekend. Wonder what kind of time they had?

But on post hurricane Sunday, thousands of my fellow New Yorkers couldn't get out fast enough to assess the damage. No one took heed to the serious warnings to "STAY INDOORS,"  hey, we're New Yorkers, survivors, right?

I wandered around nearby Carl Schurz Park with some trees down and the beautiful peaceful sculpture sitting area turned pond...here's just a few snaps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

text and photos © judith farber

http://www.cafepress.com/HurricaneIreneNY