I have a friend who lives in Louisiana and he says that hurricanes are the norm, but while that is the case, we didn't think it was funny because of the devastation left there from Katrina, because despite the fact that Katrina was just another hurricane, at the same time, it really wasn't. Katrina was a category 5 hurricane, but lost strength and was downgraded to a Category 3 by the time it made landfall and although the people in the affected areas were used to hurricanes, they were not used to Category 3 strength. This was evidenced by the aftermath and the region's long journey to recovery.
Northerners are used to hurricanes coming in strong from the South, and weakening as it moves further North, and farther out into the Atlantic, down grading itself from a hurricane to a Tropical Storm, Depression or severe storm and while that is USUALLY the case, Sandy, as a hurricane, still hit the New Jersey Shorefront and the Tri-State area and points North and South causing billions in damage. Even though many were prepared for the hurricane, and learned from both Katrina, and Irene, many were still unprepared for a storm of this magnitude, even though it wasn't as strong.
That being said though, there were also many other meteorological, environmental and even astronomical factors here that made this hurricane more unique than the ones before it, case in point, even with the devastation from a hurricane, we also have to deal with the fact that Monday Full Moon and it added 5 feet to the flood waters, and several feet to the tide, since it is the Moon's gravitational pull that raises the tide in the first place.
So, in a sense, Sandy, really wasn't just another hurricane and, even though both areas are used to hurricanes, both were still unprepared. The subway systems serving lower Manhattan and Brooklyn's waterfront are still shut down because of the flooding in the tunnels.
Our 108-year old subway system was vulnerable, because although there have always been hurricanes, none have ever been as strong as the ones we've had recently and the Mayor has said that much himself. I am sure if/when it is determined that both the trains in the train yards in the affected areas, and that tunnels themselves have suffered structural damage from the flooding after the tunnels are drained and inspected, that the cost total would go up exponentially, especially since it would be a lot more expensive to repair now, than it did in 1904. After all, there are houses and buildings that were half their age that didn't fair so well.
I have been tracking Sandy on its course here and I saw that it temporarily strengthened to a Category 2, when it was about a hundred or so miles from the NJ coast, but thankfully, it weakened down to a Category 1. If it remained a Category 2, then my neighborhood, being a Zone B flood zone, would have been just as devastated as parts of Staten Island and Breezy Point were. The flooding stopped 2 blocks from where I live, but because of the differences in elevation, some areas East and West of mine, were flooded and had fires even if they were on the same street.
But yeah, I can see how this would be hilarious, some idiots laughed at Katrina victims, and in the same way that idiots would laugh about Irene and now Sandy too. People stupidly thought that Sandy was a joke because Irene wasn't as dire, and refused to leave thinking the same, and today, most of these people are suffering. Irene should have been taken as a warning instead of a joke.
Two little boys aged, 2 and 4 were swept from their mother's arms in Staten Island as she had to abandon their vehicle as it was filling with water, despite hope that the boys would be found alive, their bodies were recovered this afternoon driving the death toll up to 37. I'm sure that when she went to identify their bodies, she just laughed, threw her hands up, shrugged and said, "well, I can always have more." I am sure that the people who lost their homes in the Breezy Point fires and other fires throughout Brooklyn said "Damn, I should've turned the stove off."
I don't really get the joke, but then again a moron will laugh at anything.
Anyway, sarcasm aside, I saw on the news where they compared Irene and Sandy side by side, and Sandy was definitely larger. Here is a interesting link I came across comparing Katrina, Irene and Sandy.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... -and-irene