After Sandy, New York City picks up the pieces

Many are calling Sandy the most devastating storm to ever hit New York City.

More than two million people are without power, including nearly every apartment and business below 39th Street. Plumbing is also out for tens of thousands of people. More than 80 homes in Breezy Point, in the Queens borough, burned down, decimating the neighborhood. The subway system was out of commission for days because of flooding, transportation tunnels were also flooded by water from the Hudson River, and high waters from the East River overtook parts of the east side of the city.

“Manhattan Youth Downtown Community Center is now under 20 feet of water and the property has taken a tremendous damage,” said Bob Townley, founder and executive director of Manhattan Youth. “1.4 million gallons of water filled the lower levels of the center.”

“We have rebuilt before and we can rebuild again," Mr Townley added.

Manhattan Youth is a non-profit community service organization that has served families, children, teens and senior citizens for over 25 years and was also damaged on September 11, 2001.

Hurricane Sandy updates from NYC

The Kid Reporters will have continuing updates from New York about the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Right now, Kid Reporter Cecilia Gault is out talking to her neighbors in Lower Manhattan — one of the hardest hit areas of the city — for a story update about the storm. She and her family also went back to their apartment after a couple days in a nearby hotel. Cecilia and her family say their apartment suffered no damage, but friends in the neighboring community of Tribeca weren't so lucky. Still, they don't have power — like most people below 39th Street. Cecilia sent in this photo of glow sticks that were placed in a stairwell to help residents see where they are walking:



More photos and updates will be coming from Kid Reporters in New York and other areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Stay tuned for their coverage. And share your story with us: Do live in an area affected by Hurricane Sandy? If you do, how did the storm impact your community? What did your family and neighbors do to prepare? Share your experiences with us in the comments below!

(Photos courtesy Cecilia Gault)

—Kids Press Corps Editor Dante A. Ciampaglia

Hurricane Sandy spares northern Virginia

News about Hurricane Sandy, also called “The Perfect Storm” or “Frankenstorm,” has spread through the country as fast as lightning.

When Sandy first started in the Caribbean, it was a tropical storm.  In a matter of days it was upgraded to hurricane status, with winds up to 75 m.p.h. (miles per hour). Sandy was supposed to impact every state on the east coast, and experts predicted Hurricane Sandy would be wider and stronger than last year’s Hurricane Irene.

To prepare for the “FrankenStorm” people rushed to grocery stores, hardware stores, and anywhere else they needed to go.  In some stores, the shelves were close to or completely bare.  People prepared for the storm by doing everything from buying extra toilet paper to charging electronics to taking down Halloween decorations.   In West Virginia, the hurricane brought a lot of snow. In Virginia, it's rain. And in Delaware, residents are told to evacuate the state entirely.

Here in Virginia, Hurricane Sandy caused delays and cancellations for many schools. The entire Fairfax County Public School system was cancelled for two days - Monday, October 29, and the following Tuesday. No one went to work, either, except essential workers like emergency services personnel.

I spoke to Amy Sung-Concannon, the mom to a family with four kids living in Old Burke, about the storm.  To prepare for the storm, she pre-cooked about enough food to last two days.  Amy and her kids made a little storm shelter for their outdoor cat, and they all slept in the living room, the safest room in their house.  She even bought a generator.

It turns out that they didn’t need a generator — not one household in Old Burke lost power. Amy was expecting to lose power for about five days because they have a lot of trees that could knock into the power lines and because it happens frequently here, even in small storms.  She also thought that the winds from the storm would knock trees over, or at least make large limbs fall.  But that didn’t happen, either.  The only thing that Hurricane Sandy caused was a small amount flooding in her basement. 

Schools closed, workers stayed home, people flocked to the supermarkets, and all for a storm that they thought would be huge.  But it wasn’t.  All it did was cause rain and wind.  Maybe because here in Fairfax, Virginia, we’re nowhere near a coast. Or maybe we were just lucky.  We do know that Hurricane Sandy caused a lot of damage elsewhere, so instead of being upset that you went out bought a ton of bread for nothing, here in northern Virginia, residents are thankful.

—Kid Reporter Abby Sacks

The view of Sandy from the Upper West Side

For me, most of Hurricane Sandy consisted of staying in bed with a book and a laptop, in my New York City Upper West Side apartment. That is from where I currently type this, at around 8 p.m., with my covers pulled up, and only hearing the sound of the forceful wind against my air conditioner. I had done this for most of the day until around 3 o’clock, constantly checking the New York Times updates.

At around 4, I built up the courage to decide to check out the streets of New York City. I laced up my pair of boots, put on an oversized jacket, and even wore glasses and a bicycle helmet after instruction from my dad. (The glasses were meant to protect my eyes, and the helmet to protect my head.) One might describe my look as clownish, but that didn’t matter because there was practically nobody to see me. The streets were abandoned. The only other time I had seen New York City streets abandoned like this was in old movies.

Trees shook, rain drizzled, and the extremely violent wind all conjured up this unique, and slightly terrifying, New York experience.

My idea was to travel down to a friend’s house in Tribeca to witness what it was like in Zone A. (This area was under a mandatory evacuation order.) After traveling a few blocks I immediately abandoned this idea. The streets seemed dangerous, the subways were closed, and a taxi wouldn’t take me all the way down because 57th Street was blocked after a crane collapsed, which forced the evacuation of that area. I saw fire trucks and police buses pass me as I continued to walk down the windy, abandoned streets.

When I returned I rode out the storm the same way I did during Hurricane Irene, with a nice cup of hot cocoa. The general vibe is one of danger, and un-New York-like abandonment. With the first death in New York from the hurricane, when a 30-year-old man in Queens had a tree fall on his house, and reports of flooding near Wall Street, Hurricane Sandy only seems to be getting worse.

With flickering lights and a building collapse in Chelsea, it really does seem dangerous. A brewing, dangerous tempest. My plan is to stay under my covers with a book and my laptop.

—Kid Reporter Fred Hechinger

Hurricane Sandy Makes Landfall

It's 7 p.m. in New York City, and Hurricane Sandy is making landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, about 120 miles away.

Hurricane Sandy made landfall as a Category 1 storm. Sandy produced winds of 90 mph with gusts of up to 115 mph. It's a mammoth storm that threatens 50 million people in the North East corridor.

The National Hurricane Center said that the hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm's center, with tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 500 miles.

The areas expected to feel the full force of the storm — including high winds and record flooding — include coastal New Jersey, Long Island, New York, and Lower Manhattan in New York City. More than a million people up and down the east coast are without power.

Read the rest of the story on the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps website.

Do live in an area affected by Hurricane Sandy? If you do, how did the storm impact your community? What did your family and neighbors do to prepare? Share your experiences with us in the comments below!

Photo: The New York City skyline and Hudson River are seen from Hoboken, New Jersey, as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Monday, October 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)

Signs at a debate

Kid Reporter Leila Sachner and I are at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, today, covering the second presidential debate. Like the previous two debates (one presidential, one vice presidential), one of the hubs of activity is the MSNBC set on campus. And like at those previous debates, the students who came to the same brought signs with them. Some are Obama supporters, some are Romney supporters, and some are just... having fun. Here's a selection of some of the signs on parade at Hofstra.

Democracy Happens

Security stopped all foot traffic on a blocked off street at the University of Denver around 5 p.m. Wednesday to prepare for the candidates' motorcades. My editor and I were on our way to DebateFest to watch the first of three presidential debates with students. University of Denver hosted this debate, moderated by PBS New Hour's Jim Lehrer.

When we first stopped, it was about 75 degrees and people were sweating. Within two minutes, a wind hit, knocking leaves off the trees and dropping the temperature to about 40 degrees.

"That's Denver," I told my editor, who was shivering next to me as we waited with our cameras ready along the yellow police tape.

Might as well work while waiting.

Next to me was a young family of five—three school-aged girls, mom, and dad—eating sandwich wraps and drinking from recycled water bottles.

"No matter what, they will see the next President of the United States," said mom Nancy Stout, of Denver, since both motorcades were due to pass. 'We're here to see the democratic process."

The girls also got an education in journalism, joining a conversation with me and three international journalists also caught behind the tape. Journalists were there from Sweden, Germany, and India.

After 30 minutes or more in the cold, the motorcades whizzed by, car after car of security, candidates and family members, traveling press, more security, and an ambulance. Each motorcade had about 20 cars in it. It took all of about a minute pass.

"What did you think," I asked 5-year-old Maya. 

"It was good," she said. 

"Do you know why they are here," I asked about the candidates.

"They want to show the people who they really are," she answered. 

The Stouts quickly packed up and headed home as soon as the yellow tape came down. They wanted to catch at least the first part of the debate before bed time!

—Kid Reporter Jenna Winocur

PHOTO: Nancy Stout with her three grade-schoolers, waiting for the motorcades to pass prior to the presidential debate in Denver, Colorado, October 3, 2012. (Suzanne Freeman)

 

Debate Prep!

As President Barak Obama and Govener Mitt Romney have been preparing for weeks for the eagerly awaited Presidential Debate at the University of Denver in Colorado, so has the Scholastic Kids Press Corps! I  picked up my media credential last night, and am putting it to use today to get through
almost every door. Almost.

The security here is nothing short of overwhelming. (I personally like the sniffing security dogs the best -- they are the cuttest part so far!) And while we can get through check points by turning on all our electronics to show the officers they actually work, we are not being allowed in the media filing center. Our plan is to attend Debate Fest 2012 with college students, somewhere in the middle of campus. We'll have fun sitting with the students and watching all the action outside on a big screen! I heard there are about 4,000 members of the media expected to attend. The fact that I help make up that number at the age of 13 is an incredible feeling.

I've also learned that four 8th grade students from North Star Academy were chosen to be "Guest Stars" here at the debate tonight. They wrote winning essays to earn the honor. I really hope that I can interview them! I'm excited to meet all the people I can and be as prepared as I can be to interview some of the nation's first-time voters here on the Denver University campus.  

—Kid Reporter Jenna Winocur

PHOTO: Kid Reporter Jenna Winocur at The Cable Center on the Denver University campus, getting ready for the first presidential debate of the 2012 election.