Posted on 11/02/2012 8:54:25 AM PDT by NYer
Gov. Cuomo said the gas crisis caused by Superstorm Sandy should ease now that the Coast Guard has lifted the tanker restrictions in the harbor.
Cuomo during a pre-taped interview with Sirius/XM radio, said the Coast Guard closed New York Harbor because containers blew off ships that could cause navigation and other problems, including hull breaches.
That kept gas tankers from coming to New York City.
On Thursday, the restrictions were lifted, Cuomo said.
"The fuel situation should be abated soon," he said.
He warned against price gauging, saying the Attorney General's Office will prosecute anyone who does.
Cuomo during the interview said he has to deal with more natural disasters in his 22 months in office than his father dealt with in his 12 years as governor.
He again blamed what he says is extreme weather situations that he believes New York will be dealing with again in the future.
Cuomo said when the subways and underground infrastructure was designed, it was not done so with major floods in mind.
In the wake of Superstorm, Cuomo says the thing he is amazed at most is how quickly things can go downhill.
Cuomo was asked what has shocked him most as he traveled around following the region following the storm.
"How quickly it can all go bad and how bad it can go," he responded. "We had been talking about the storm and the rain but life was fine and everything was basically fine. And then in a span of 12 hours the world is just turned upside down and how quickly chaos can ensue."
He spoke of a new appreciation of the "delicate balance" presented by an urban environment with high density.
"It's a delicate balance to keep it working well," Cuomo said. "Panic can set in. Chaos can set in."
He mentioned subway stations with water up to the platforms or even the ceilings and flooding that went on in the tunnels for five miles.
"As a tunnel gets pumped, they can go in and fix the wires and the they can run the train and then the train comes online," he said of why the mass transit system is coming back in pieces.
Despite complaints by many, including those in the outer boroughs, Cuomo said he cannot think of anything the government could have done to prepare or respond to the storm any better than it did.
"There's really nothing that can be done when a 10-foot wall of water goes through your house," he said.
Then perhaps he should talk to Gov. Perry of Texas who understands staging relief aid just outside the expected devestation zone. Tanker trucks of fuel, semi trucks of food and supplies, dump trucks for hauling trash and debris, the national guard to render aid would have been a good start. He had ample warning that New York was going to get hit hard.
It isn’t as if people didn’t have time to prepare! Why would a person leave their boat in the water and their car parked where it could be flooded?
It may well extend beyond that, including lower Manhattan, Queens and Long Island. Here is the county results map from the 2004 presidential campaign (Bush vs Kerry). Blue=Bush; Red=Kerry
The majority of New Yorkers voted for Bush but Kerry won the state with the large metropolises. New York is still considered Obama country but, between the carnage in Queens, the long gas lines, the power outages and the slow response from FEMA, I'm betting that a lot of hungry, unbathed residents who have lost their homes or been displaced by water damage, may very well pull the lever for Romney.
Staten Island
A statue stands where George Dresch's house once stood.
Jane Caravello and her son Vincent look for personal items after the storm blew the roof off her home in Staten Island.
No one could prepare for such an unprecedented storm.
Wrong. The people had three days to prepare and evacuate. City folks are supposed to be smarter than us rural folks, aren't they?
I grew up in central Suffolk, lived on LI all my life. I think some people might switch their vote or stay home. I don’t think it’ll be enough to change the state to red though.
More likely, they just won't vote at all - which is still a win for Romney. Not nearly enough to flip the state, though.
There was also a lot of talk about New Orleans getting exactly what Katrina delivered.
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