The Great Storm

Unless you've buried your head in the sand, you've no doubt heard about Hurricane Sandy, which hit the East Coast last night. We've gotten some of it, but not really that badly. It's been raining steadily and we did have some windy conditions last night, but no worse than what we normally get with the garden variety summer storm. As far as the impact here, I think that everyone's fears were overblown. Schools all over this part of the state were closed today, and for reasons that puzzle me a lot. Sure, it was a typical cold rainy autumn day, but no worse than the kinds of weather conditions we normally get this time of year. There's been no flooding because we had such a bone dry summer that the ground is nowhere near saturated yet. We need this rain so I consider it to be welcome relief to ground that went too dry too long all summer long. So we were spared the brunt of the storm because we're so far inland that we don't tend to suffer the effects of hurricanes. We get a lot of rain when they blow this way, and we do get the occasional dying hurricane blow through, but it usually just results in a lot of rain, rain, rain, maybe some windy conditions, but nothing really that bad overall. However, the entire East Coast has been decimated badly and that's the most densely populated part of our country, and we have a Presidential election a week from today. It'll be interesting to see how the election will be affected by this disaster. It gives weight to the idea of early voting. Hopefully those folks who are now displaced from their homes have already voted and can then concentrate on getting their lives back together again. If not.....hard to say. Since millions of people and places are, at the moment, without power, and with the increased use of electronic voting machines, that could complicate matters as far as the election is concerned.

This storm came at a precipitous time in the campaign. One week remains before Election Day. The President has suspended his campaign and is doing what a President should do, managing a crisis and winning praise from the governors of the affected states, most notably, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who had effusive praise for the President yesterday as his state was being absolutely hammered. In the meantime, Mitt Romney held a "storm relief rally" in Dayton (Ohio! our state was hardly at all affected!) that had all the trappings of a political campaign. He had attendees bring things like canned goods and other things to send to victims, but the Red Cross will tell you that they don't want that sort of thing and that they would prefer money instead so that they can buy the the things that are needed right where it will go. They don't have the facilities to ship things like clothing and canned goods, so naturally, as well meaning as Romney may have been, the local Red Cross is now stuck with a ton of stuff they don't need or want. If Romney really wanted to "look Presidential" he would have gone to the storm affected areas to offer comfort to the the victims, but no,  instead he had to grandstand and hold a "victory rally" as the flyers billed it as being. It really made him look foolish to hold a rally and collect things that the Red Cross doesn't need or want. I don't know if this will prove any kind of tipping point in this election, since the part of the country that was hit typically votes Democratic, but it should be interesting to see what, if any, effect it has on polls in the next few days. I also hope that it makes people realize that the kinds of storms we are seeing, the extreme and severe storms that keep happening over and over again that are supposed to only happen once in a century and are happening with alarming frequency are the result of climate change and this issue needs to stop being avoided and start being discussed honestly in political circles. Whether or not we address it will be determined by the Presidential election next week. I am sure that I am not alone in saying that I will be very relieved when this election is over and we can all return to the day to day things that need to be attended to. I am also not alone in sending my thoughts and prayers to all of those people who are being affected by this enormous storm. Here's hoping that recovery goes well and that rebuilding can start as soon as possible and that people can get their lives back in time for the holidays.