Perhaps the quality of the lessons learned is more important than the the quantity. This is an issue that threatens lives, if you are so callous to the danger that others are in, please don't be so shameless as to admit it.

Thank you for the thread Ian, I do hope that all the people displaced by the evacuation are in fact safe because with the scope of the property damage it is really frightening.

Does anyone know more about the nuclear plants mentioned here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nuke-reactors-shut-superstorm-17601649 ? Is this in fact just people being wise and cautious or is there a real risk at this point?

You should be ashamed of yourself. There is so much damage that everything is an estimate, people are homeless and dislocated, they COULD be missing. I can't believe your parents taught you to think it is okay to mock the loss of life.

That was an old quote made before the storm hit; I think he already stated that he may have underestimated the gravity of the situation.

Only the company running the nuclear plants will know for certain, but it seemed to me that they were acting responsibly and had good emergency plans (though, in one case, I'm not sure if the intended manual cooling of the spent fuel ponds would have worked under the conditions that were present, but thankfully the water didn't rise high enough to make it necessary). Frankly, after Fukushima, _not_ having good emergency plans for for a storm/flood scenario would have been inexcusable.

I may have been harsh. I am very upset by the trolling I saw in a thread that should have focused on helping or keeping people updated and not marginalizing/mocking the victims. His was the first post in the thread that seemed like it caused a domino effect culminating in the "gem" above my first post.

I agree. At the moment, should haves and could haves are not as important as what is, and I worry that a lot of news is not being conveyed (all the local news sources are clearly taxed beyond normal limits and that is understandable with the nature of the disaster but it doesn't change the fact that a lot is not known) and as you say only the people inside really know what is going on with the power plants. I was hoping perhaps with so much news floating around that someone else picked up a more detailed/accurate source that I may have missed.

Anyone know what is going on with the people in shelters? Is there any effort being made to make sure everyone is accounted for? I haven't heard back from a few friends who would have fallen in the evacuation areas and I hope they are safe and that support arrives before the needs of the people outweigh the emergency provisions (what with a big university and several hospitals having had to shut down and relocate patients).

http://www.newsday.com/news/weather/sandy-s-death-toll-climbs-millions-without-power-1.4168694

The Caribbean death toll was 69. The American death toll is now 39. I hope that number doesn't go up but I fear it will (more densely populated areas and much more inhabited area). This is NOT a total, it is only what is known so far because with 2.6 million people without lights in New Jersey and 700,000 in Manhattan it isn't exactly easy to call 911 for help, nor are the emergency response equipped to address damage at this scale this quickly.

Edit: Total "people" without lights are 8.2 million at the moment. Some sources quote customers, which means families of unknown size. The figures I quoted for Manhattan and New Jersey are "customers". I hope a large part if not all of those are evacuated and empty homes.

I've been through 20+ hurricanes and gave my experience. This one ended up being special, which I admitted later. I am not in the US right now so I was not privy to all the media coverage.

Also take your judgments and stick them up your ass.

Thanks.

Poor joke aside now, I don't think the Jersey Shore (The actual location) exists anymore after Sandy had her way with it.

I know there is a lot of incentive to rebuild New York but I wonder: will New Jersey and the other affected states will get as much help with rebuilding? The Jersey beaches were a big part of the economy of those cities and they may not be able to rebuild all that was lost. :/

Might be an odd question but I'm wondering if this storm has been long since predicted and may be part of the 2012 End World conspiracy?

As you've all noted - New York is a big money turner for the States in general and we're all like Dominoes with the States in the lead....

I'm hoping, I mean, the Boardwalk was a big thing (I've been playing catch up with friends, so I haven't dug too much into the information of what got hit and to what extent) here, and I'm sure Atlantic City also got hit, and that was a big casino area. And while I'm not the biggest fan of my state's governor, I admit his bullish qualities may get us more help than a more timid person would, so go him? (Wow, I'm actually surprised I could say that)

Good news: Zynga has done their part with helping the victims of Sandy, by disabling the "plants will wither if you don't take care of your farm often enough"-feature in Farmville! Just so that the victims of Sandy, who can't play the game due to power outages etc., can get back to the game without problems!

This is a very nice and humane gesture from Zynga, and will be remembered by generations to come.

One question though: why doesn't Zynga do this whenever there is some natural disaster somewhere in the world? There may be Farmville players there too, you know!

Don't tell me you believe in that 2010 bullshit. Not even the Maya did that.

The storm's so far killed over 100 people, about half in the U.S.

Yes, the world will end in 2010! Mark my words.

How are you using the internet then...