All Those Poor Abandonded Storm Victims

[freedombecki]

If this is government helping I'll pass and rely on myself and the charity of strangers. Note the bolded.

“Sitting there last night you could see your breath,” said Sotelo. “At (Pine Belt) the Red Cross made an announcement that they were sending us to permanent structures up here that had just been redone, that had washing machines and hot showers and steady electric, and they sent us to tent city. We got (expletive).

“The elections are over and here we are. There were Blackhawk helicopters flying over all day and night. They have heavy equipment moving past the tents all night.”

Welcome to the part of the disaster where people start falling through the cracks.

No media is allowed inside the fenced complex, which houses operations for JCP&L’s army of workers from out of the area. The FEMA website indicated on Monday that there had been a shelter for first responders, utility and construction workers to take a break, although the compound now contains a full-time shelter operated by the state Department of Human Services.

Sotelo scrolls through the photos he took inside the facility as his wife, Renee, huddles for warmth inside a late-model Toyota Corolla stuffed with possessions, having to drive out through the snow and slush to tell their story. The images on the small screen include lines of outdoor portable toilets, of snow and ice breaching the bottom of the tent and an elderly woman sitting up, huddled in blankets.

All the while, a black car with tinted windows crests the hill and cruises by, as if to check on the proceedings.

As Sotelo tells it, when it became clear that the residents were less than enamored with their new accommodations Wednesday night and were letting the outside world know about it, officials tried to stop them from taking pictures, turned off the WiFi and said they couldn’t charge their smart phones because there wasn’t enough power.

“My 6-year-old daughter Angie was a premie and has a problem regulating her body temperature,” Sotelo noted. “Until 11 (Wednesday) night they had no medical personnel at all here, not even a nurse. After everyone started complaining and they found out we were contacting the press, they brought people in. Every time we plugged in an iPhone or something, the cops would come and unplug them. Yet when they moved us in they laid out cable on the table and the electricians told us they were setting up charging stations. But suddenly there wasn’t enough power.”

All of this is merely the last straw for a 46-year-old on disability, with two rods and 22 staples in his back.

“The staff at the micro-city are providing for the needs of all the evacuees,” said Nicole Brossoie, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services. “Each day there is transportation to the pharmacy for prescription medications, if needed. There are ADA (handicapped-accessible) toilets and showers on site.

“There were concerns with the heat when evacuees first arrived. Those issues were resolved within a couple of hours by adding more heaters.”

Sotelo’s seen the home he rents on Kearney Avenue even though residents have yet to be allowed back, having been enlisted as a driver for the Red Cross.

He was on the barrier islands the day after the storm, as a matter of fact. There had been a foot of water in his place. That’s it. And now he’s left to wonder why he’s still not allowed back.

Even without gas or electric, he figures it has to be better than this place.

“Everybody is angry over here. It’s like being prison,” said Sotelo, who grew up in Wayne. “I’ve been working since I was 10. I’ve been on my own since I was 16. And for things to be so bad that it’s pissing me off, that tells you something.”

Bitter cold inside a disaster shelter | The Asbury Park Press NJ | app.com

Sounds like FEMA is putting on quite a horror show there in a disaster situation.

 

[edthecynic]

So, what Ann I wrong about? Did Alabama go to New Jersey or not?

Did Alabama work in Jersey to help the people or not?

Whenever the CON$ervoFascist Brotherhood are caught lying, they play dumb.

Hey Asshole! Did you watch Anderson Cooper tonight? Fucking asshole. People are freezing and all you can do is scream at me for noticing!

Looks like those non-union Alabama power workers can't do the job! You said they would have it fixed by now.

Yes, big bad government is really in there helping em,,, they won't get any power until Thanksgiving.. Thanks big bad government. If the Alabama crews had been allowed to help they'd have their power NOW.. Enjoy

 

[KissMy]

A New Yorker frustrated by the region's gas shortage following Hurricane Sandy is arrested & accused of filling up dozens of 5-gallon buckets with gas and trying to take them back into the Empire State.

Police in Orange said Yunus Latif, of Richmond Hill, N. Y. traveled to Connecticut on a gas run for himself and his neighbors, and filled dozens of buckets with gas and put them all into his van.

 

[freedombecki]

Whenever the CON$ervoFascist Brotherhood are caught lying, they play dumb.

Hey Asshole! Did you watch Anderson Cooper tonight? Fucking asshole. People are freezing and all you can do is scream at me for noticing!

Looks like those non-union Alabama power workers can't do the job! You said they would have it fixed by now.

Yes, big bad government is really in there helping em,,, they won't get any power until Thanksgiving.. Thanks big bad government. If the Alabama crews had been allowed to help they'd have their power NOW.. Enjoy

Ed, get a grip.

 

[Zoom-boing]

If this is government helping I'll pass and rely on myself and the charity of strangers. Note the bolded.

“Sitting there last night you could see your breath,” said Sotelo. “At (Pine Belt) the Red Cross made an announcement that they were sending us to permanent structures up here that had just been redone, that had washing machines and hot showers and steady electric, and they sent us to tent city. We got (expletive).

“The elections are over and here we are. There were Blackhawk helicopters flying over all day and night. They have heavy equipment moving past the tents all night.”

Welcome to the part of the disaster where people start falling through the cracks.

No media is allowed inside the fenced complex, which houses operations for JCP&L’s army of workers from out of the area. The FEMA website indicated on Monday that there had been a shelter for first responders, utility and construction workers to take a break, although the compound now contains a full-time shelter operated by the state Department of Human Services.

Sotelo scrolls through the photos he took inside the facility as his wife, Renee, huddles for warmth inside a late-model Toyota Corolla stuffed with possessions, having to drive out through the snow and slush to tell their story. The images on the small screen include lines of outdoor portable toilets, of snow and ice breaching the bottom of the tent and an elderly woman sitting up, huddled in blankets.

All the while, a black car with tinted windows crests the hill and cruises by, as if to check on the proceedings.

As Sotelo tells it, when it became clear that the residents were less than enamored with their new accommodations Wednesday night and were letting the outside world know about it, officials tried to stop them from taking pictures, turned off the WiFi and said they couldn’t charge their smart phones because there wasn’t enough power.

“My 6-year-old daughter Angie was a premie and has a problem regulating her body temperature,” Sotelo noted. “Until 11 (Wednesday) night they had no medical personnel at all here, not even a nurse. After everyone started complaining and they found out we were contacting the press, they brought people in. Every time we plugged in an iPhone or something, the cops would come and unplug them. Yet when they moved us in they laid out cable on the table and the electricians told us they were setting up charging stations. But suddenly there wasn’t enough power.”

All of this is merely the last straw for a 46-year-old on disability, with two rods and 22 staples in his back.

“The staff at the micro-city are providing for the needs of all the evacuees,” said Nicole Brossoie, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services. “Each day there is transportation to the pharmacy for prescription medications, if needed. There are ADA (handicapped-accessible) toilets and showers on site.

“There were concerns with the heat when evacuees first arrived. Those issues were resolved within a couple of hours by adding more heaters.”

Sotelo’s seen the home he rents on Kearney Avenue even though residents have yet to be allowed back, having been enlisted as a driver for the Red Cross.

He was on the barrier islands the day after the storm, as a matter of fact. There had been a foot of water in his place. That’s it. And now he’s left to wonder why he’s still not allowed back.

Even without gas or electric, he figures it has to be better than this place.

“Everybody is angry over here. It’s like being prison,” said Sotelo, who grew up in Wayne. “I’ve been working since I was 10. I’ve been on my own since I was 16. And for things to be so bad that it’s pissing me off, that tells you something.”

Bitter cold inside a disaster shelter | The Asbury Park Press NJ | app.com

Sounds like FEMA is putting on quite a horror show there in a disaster situation.

They're not allowing people to take pics, call outside, charge their phones to let people know what's going on? wtH??? They're in TENTS for God's sake! It dropped to near freezing the past few nights, windy. FEMA can not keep them there, they are not prisoners. I'd leave and find someplace, anyplace else. I'd take out an ad asking for help and through the kindness of strangers I'd find it.