Like many people, I was left housebound last Monday by
Hurricane Sandy. By Tuesday morning, the
conditions had improved enough to walk around my neighborhood and survey the
damage, although for me, like most people, there would be no work. As I made my way around on foot, I saw pretty
much what I had expected. There were
several fallen trees, and limbs were strewn everywhere. One tree in particular fell across an alley
that I usually walked through, and it was lying between two houses on either
side of the alley. It looks like it
barely missed the house across the way from the property it formerly stood on.
In one way, however, we were fortunate. Through it all, we never lost power, although
our lights dimmed a few times. We still had lights and heat, the important
things, although our cable and internet service were knocked out for about a
day. Many of my neighbors were not so
fortunate. As soon as I walked out the
door, the air was filled with the sound of generators humming. The 7-11 and the shopping center nearby were
also without power, and apparently much of the refrigerated and frozen food in
stock had to be discarded. One of the
traffic signals nearby was out, with only portable stop signs to direct
traffic.
Walking past the golf course at the Middletown Country Club,
I saw the downed tree that appears in this photo. Fortunately, this tree was fairly small, and
was nowhere near any property it could damage other than the ground. It certainly wasn’t in anyone’s way, since no
would be out golfing on that day. But
there may be more storms like this coming, and I’m hearing it may be the new
normal. Scientists are saying that
global warming has changed the weather dynamics for good now, and we will be
seeing more of this in the future. I
don’t know what kind of evidence is provided.
I haven’t really researched it. I
hope it’s not true, of course, but I do know there will be more storms from
time to time, as there always were, along with the flooding and down trees they
bring with them.
