Hurricane Sandy

When I heard that Sandy was heading toward our direction I assumed that it was not a big deal because last years when Hurricane Irene hit NYC, it did not affect the city as the meteorologist expected. However, this time, it was very different because Sandy came with winds of 80m/p which is super dangerous. Some of the things I was able to see from my window were a couple of trees moving from side to side, and I thought there would fall, but they still alive. Also, I saw a piece of metal, which I could not figure what it was, flying over the streets. That was pretty much all I saw, but I kept myself informed watching the news. In the other hand, it was somehow exiting that we had to witness this experience since we are discussing climate change (hurricanes) in our ENG 101 composition class, and I finally understood why a phenomenon like this happen. So, I felt that it was a connection between this hurricane and our class. Honestly, at one point, when I was looking through the window I though that, maybe  this hurricane came to us so that we could see how a hurricane feels in the big apple, New York City because every time a big storm, hurricane, or earthquake, etc happens, NYC barely taste the consequences of it. 

Furthermore, I think that the mayor did a wonderful job this time. Since Sandy was coming to us, he started to announce that people who live around the coast and places near the rivers should evacuate before the storm hit the city because floods were expected in those areas. So, if I was the mayor, I would do the same thing Bloomberg did by keeping the New Yorkers informed with the latest new, and the same time given them instruction to evacuate to be safe from a major disaster. Moreover, I remember that for my first assignment in the class, I had to write a letter to the mayor where my main point was that NYC was not prepare for climate change or a big hurricane like Sandy, but it turn out that he prepared New Yorkers to be safe since the flood was inevitable due to the heavy rains and the rising of the sea level which only occurs four times in the year, and it happens on Monday.

Finally, this experience is also connected with the book we are reading in class “Zeitoun”.  This book basically described what happened in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit them. Zeitoun, which is the main character of the book, decided to stay in the city to see what would happen because he though that Katrina would not be something different from what they had experienced before. However, this was a category 5 hurricane which destroyed New Orleans and comparing to hurricane Sandy which was only a powerful storm when it hit New York City, Sandy destroyed a lot of neighbors as well.