Hurricane Irene headed toward the Northeast with fury in her wake. What had started as a category three hurricane in the southeast was reduced down to a category one and finally to a tropical storm as it hit the eastern seaboard. Warnings were widespread in the tri-state area about flooding and for the first time in history, New York City shut down their transit system in preparation for the storm.
Many New Yorkers were skeptical though, about the city’s preparedness and thought Mayor Bloomberg’s ‘better safe than sorry’ thought process was more of a ploy, or a way of overshadowing December’s blizzard fiasco.
However, many New Jersey residents that have experienced flooding in inclement weather know better than not to be braced for the worst. Many initially fled the storm as warned and advised. Even as 1 million began to return to their homes, tens of thousands of people began evacuating inland flood zones. These ominous and susceptible zones stretch from New Jersey’s northeast corner all the way to Trenton.
The state’s overflowing rivers began on Sunday with the downpour of Irene’s rains and strong wind. The water flooded out bridges, major roads and highways, streets, backyards and basements. With the help of Mother Nature’s sunshine, lots of areas have dried out. However, there still remain a plethora of closed roads and bridges. Some are damaged beyond reuse without extensive repair.
Damage stretched out from New Jersey, upstate New York and all the way up to Vermont, flooding out homes and leaving residents displaced. The extensive flooding literally washed houses away in Vermont, where they actually experienced the worst flooding in some eighty years.
What many inland residents were to return to was destruction; ruination at its worst. Flood damages are serious. Water in homes can cause deadly mold and many times will have to be thoroughly cleaned and vacuumed in order to ensure a safe living environment.
While the visible destruction is easy to spot, mold breeds in moisture and humidity. It can be the silent killer and lead to an onslaught of health problems. These include viruses, allergic reactions diseases and even more physical damage to a home.
While recovering from the worst; power outages, damages, business closures and the like, countless people are cringing as a new storm develops. Not even one week after Irene touched down, hurricane Katia, switching back and forth between a hurricane and a tropical storm, heads toward the US in a similar path that Irene once followed.
It’s still too early to tell what kind of impact Katia will have on the US’s eastern region (if any) as it brews and makes its ways over the Atlantic. We can only be hopeful that those hundreds of thousands on the Northeastern seaboard that were affected by the destruction of Irene will not be hit again.