THE RECOVERY is now in earnest for those still without power, for public transportation systems that closed during the height of the snowstorm, and for families who left their homes to seek shelter. But the great nor’easter of 2013 isn’t over. We will rebound, but, if we are lucky, this storm will never end.
Every disaster has repercussions. In 2013, the lessons learned from the Blizzard of 1978 clearly animated decisions about preparation and response. Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy were also important precursors. There will be immediate recovery needs, of course, but the focus will soon turn to digesting the lessons of this weekend’s storm. They will become part of the legacy, even mythology, of the nor’easter. Mistakes made during this week’s cleanup will become part of that narrative, helping to drive preparations for the next storm. There is a perpetual feedback loop. The cycle of learning and adjusting never ends.
Comments
Is this just filler?
Not a lot of substance, is there?
Congrats to the Governor. Shutting down travel was an unprecedented move and an effective one as well.
"The greatest challenge will be figuring out how best to make individual citizens and families part of that feedback loop." After the Halloween Blackout a couple of years ago, the agency I work for held a series of meetings with our customers. We asked questions such as, "What could we have done better?" ALL employees of the agency were required to attend at least one of the five sessions. We learned some specific criticisms and ideas. We also learned that 1) people thought we did a good job, with some exceptions, 2) Communication during a crisis or emergency is about more than transmitting information; sometimes communication is just about letting people know they are out there.
errr, strike the last sentence. "sometimes communication is just about letting people know you know they are out there."
The Governor's decision to issue the travel ban was correct. Hundreds of these scenes employing many more hundreds of responders were avoided. They were about clearing the highways, getting people to hospitals, getting to necessary work, etc. I'm posting a photo of an overturned vehicle with attending safety personell from Friday's storm, in case it doesn't transfer. Google the NY Thruway over the weekend. For those who post ad hominem attacks on the Governor, there is much to find fault with him, this is not one of them. The abject dislike for Governor Patrick is all too apparent and makes other, otherwise wise analysis and comments less viable.
Still too many people without power to be writting this from the warmth of your home. Should be covering the the outages closer. Onstar is reporting that access is slowing down the restoration. Time for the Govenor to get the resorces to the areas asap!
Large government organizations tend not to respond to any feedback input.
Hence our depression era minimum price on milk, WWI mohair subsidies until recently, cast iron pipe waste pipe requirement in Chicago or Crime lab scandal.
FEMA response to Sandy has been underwhelming - and our Governor forgot about private snow removal in his proclamation.
Was it that you didn't have a shovel, or that you just wanted to be cleared before everyone else?
go ahead - clear a 40,000 square foot lot with a shovel - and if you don't keep up with a plow - you need to call in a front end loader for thousands of dollars.
What never ceases to amaze me is how badly and slowly the streets are cleared. True, it was a blizzard. But it's the same even when it's not a blizzard. It's inexcusable that the snow removal is so poor. Boston, Cambridge, and Newton look awful. The roads are too narrow; handicapped ramps are blocked with snow; and too few roads have a clean surface. And while most individuals and businesses have done a decent job of clearing the sidewalk in front of their property, it's the publicly managed sidewalk areas that are the worst.
Can't comment about Boston or Cambridge, but I live in Newton and the roads are in very good shape.
Of course, the roads are narrow. Snow drifts are already very high. What do you suggest we do with the snow? Municipalities' budgets are limited. Want to pay more taxes? Problem solved!
It took me nearly two hours to get from Brookline Village to South Station this morning. The streets in Boston are absolutely atrocious. They had to cancel school becuase their plowing was so inept. Yes this was a big storm but they had almost two full days to do the cleanup. Downtown Boston should not have been paralyzed at 9 a.m.
But the main message I will take home is to clear my tailpipe before I do anything else to shovel out a car. Such a shame that a 12-year-old and another man died because that step wasn't taken. I'm sure I wouldn't have thought about it either.
Kudos to the Governor for the driving ban. Here in Somerville, the narrow streets were packed with snow, and the few idiots who chose to ignore the ban presented a clear hazard to pedestrians as they slipped and slid and tried to power out of snowbanks. I saw one fool in an SUV stuck half in and half out of a snowbank, blocking what was left of the road so that the fire truck right behind her couldn't get through. Thanks to Governor Patrick, those scenes were much rarer than they could have been. All you need to do is read about what it was like on the highways of New York during the storm to gain an appreciation for the Governor's decision.