After the Storm

Fallen Ginkgoes

I have this knack for being out of town when major weather hits and Super Storm Sandy was no exception.  As she barreled down on New York  City,  I was already safely out in southern California for a meeting.  And, there I stayed through Sunday, November 4th.  I returned to two New Yorks -- the upper West side where my apartment was unscathed and the South Street Seaport area where the building housing our offices is down and out for the count.

Uptown, Central Park saw some damage from the storm but they were well on their way to cleaning it up in preparation for running the 2012 NYC Marathon.  Although the official marathon was canceled, people showed up dressed to run it and with personal support crews in tow.  And run it they did even as the City began to break down the finish line.

Downtown, we'd been grappling with office displacement since the storm of the century ended and we were already up and running with web mail by the time I returned to the East coast.  The building is going to take a bit longer but they are working hard to repair the damages from the flooding.  In the meantime we went on an expedition today to retrieve several servers -- trudging up 18 floors to do so.  By tomorrow, we should have access to all data.  

All in all, we escaped quite lightly and count ourselves among the lucky.  Herewith a few photos from Central Park and today's expedition downtown.

Impromptu NYC Marathon - November 4, 2012

 .....the finish line (this is the closest I've ever been on marathon Sunday)....

How to Take Your Owner for a Walk

Sadly, Some Trees Were Down in Central Park

Given how much had already been cleaned up, it's hard to know how much damage there was in Central Park.  2011's October snow and hurricane Irene had both brought down a number of trees as did the micro burst that swept across the north end of the park in 2010.

South Street Seaport and Surrounds

There was a bustle of activity at Abercrombie & Fitch...

Otherwise the seaport was quiet today with stores and restaurants having an abandoned forlorn feel to them.  It was clear that some had started the long road to clean up as in this restaurant...

Others had merely boarded up their windows or maybe hadn't even stopped by at all.  The green/yellow placards indicate that a building has restricted access...

On Water Street, a lone worker wiped off cosmetics in the Duane Reade...

And another sat in a Starbucks  -- hopefully planning a comeback because that is the closest one to our office....

They had blocked off the section of the seaport closest to the river -- making for interesting patterns...

Lots of debris coming out of buildings.....

This orphan chair outside our loading dock (perchance Kenny's (who kept watch through the storm and has been tirelessly working to clean up our building?)...

The tourists are back in force...

St. Paul's Chapel - Trinity Church

A quiet place to end a walk through an area that was clearly hit hard but that is already coming back.  There was just a bit of damage along one side of the fence.  It remains a peaceful oasis.