And this morning we awoke to bright sunshine, just like Annie predicted as if nothing has happened here in the last 36 hours.

But that is very far from the truth for many New Yorkers. There are really two “camps” here today. There are those who live above 25th Street – agonizingly close to us but just a bit too far – who almost don’t know what just happened. They had some wind and rain, a couple of broken trees but for the most part Sandy was little more than an inconvenience. Some stores in midtown and the upper east and west sides didn’t open yesterday, mostly because employees had no way to get to work. As I noted in my post yesterday, 5th Avenue and Broadway from 30th up into Times Square was busy with tourists. In Time Square itesef, the signs were belting out advertisments like a normal day, the buskers were trying to make a living and the cameras were flashing. Those restaurants that were open had long lines to get in and by mid afternoon many didn’t have any food left to serve. The discount theatre ticket outlet which attracts lines around the block starting at 2pm each day was also closed because Broadway and off Broadway theatres were closed again last nite.

Interspersed with the tourists were a lot of people like us, those from below 25th who have had no power since Monday nite and for anyone above the 6 or 7th floor of most buildings, no running water. Almost everything here is closed, from Home Depot to the Chelsea Deli down the block. And cell service here is spotty at best. As a result, many have migrated uptown with their cellphone chargers looking for a place to plug in and a free WiFi network to connect to. In some buildings, people have been asked to leave voluntarily because of the lack of water. We met a man from Floriday who works in Manhattan during the week who had spent four hours trying to find a hotel room. He was very realistic about what was going on, “It is what it is” he told me stoically. Fortunately, while sitting having a drink with us, he got a call from a hotel offering a room. He asked me to watch is drink and phone (which was charging along with ours) while he ran to the hotel to give them his credit card.

I posted a picture on Facebook yesterday of people lining the windows at every Starbucks – all of them closed yesterday – jumping aboard the free WiFi. On our walk home from Time Square last nite we got to 26th where the area at the front of the TD Bank where the cash machines are was wall to wall people sitting on the floor with phones plugged into a series of joined powerbars from the single plug. In Greenwich Village at NYU, students and professors sat on the sidewalk outside the student building with their phones and iPads plugged into to a power plugged into an outside plug passing the time with a group game of cards. At a local store we found the proprietor with a generator offering anyone with a cord 10 minutes of free charging time: there was a line up. When the generator burpped like it was going to stop, there were looks of horror all around. People find a way to do what is necessary to help themselves and other.

Five blocks into the blacked out zone, we are relatively comfortable. We don’t have power and all the conveniences it provides, but we do have running cold water and a gas stove. Interesting side note is that the natural water pressure that delivers water to New York is only strong enough to raise the water to the 6th or 7th floor of buildings. Buildings use pumps and water towers on the roof to provide pressure above that level. We have water but by the time you get to the 8th floor, there is no water. This morning we heated water up in the stove to bathe and shave. It will be interesting whether this lasts. We have to go up past 25th to find supplies but they seem to be available. Lucky compared to other areas.

South of us and on both sides of Manhattan things are significantly worse. I blogged about the flooding on the west side in the lower areas along the Hudson. This continues down to Battery Park and then up the lower east side. Basements and parking garages filled up like bathtubs except there are no drains. Many people with cars in underground lots may have to wait a considerable time before seeing them rescued. The New York Stock Exchange opened this morning after being closed for 2 days by weather, the first time in recent history.

It is almost shocking to consider the impact that the storm surge had here. Every tunnel under the East River to Brooklyn and Queens mostly subway tunners, was affected by salt water. There was no way to stop it. The Battery Tunnel which carries traffic and subway lines at the very south tip is completely filled with salt water – 2 tubes with an estimated 43 million gallons of water in each tube – that will have to be pumped out. Others were not so badly damaged but think of the damage that salt water will do to the electrical and subway control systems. There is lots of speculation about when these issues will be resolved, but no one from the MTA, the City or state are making any statements. Mayor Bloomberg has been very quite over the last 24 hours after being front and centre leading up to the storm. Neither have we heard anything from ConEdison, the power supplier in the New York area. These officials are completely overwhelmed. This situation makes the problems we have experienced with exercises and events in Vancouver seem like a kid’s birthday party.

And as bad as things are in Manhattan, this area is way better off than areas along the outer coast in Brooklyn and New Jersey and across the East River in Queens. In the later community, over 100 homes burned to the ground after an electrical tranformer blew and flames were fanned by the wind. Parts of Hobboken across the Hudson River in New Jersey are still under water.

We bought a battery powered radio to try to stay informed. I will try to post a picture because it is a real gem: combined flashlight, fan and AM/FM radio complete with a compass. Problem is that there isn’t a lot of information out there yet. What we do hear are the sound of sirens, fire police and ambulance dealing with continuing fall out of the storm. I expect people will start to lose patience and get frustrated pretty soon. We have not seen or heard of any looting or other problems but there is a concern if things don’t improve soon the City may see some of that.

Throughout all of this, one of the biggest isses being discussed is Halloween: to proceed or postpone. The Governor of New Jersey just announce postponement until Nov 5, ironically the day before Election Day. The Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, which attracts up to 2 million people has been cancelled for the first time in 39 years. There is talk of rescheduling it next week, perhaps to give folks something to look forward to, almost like Sandy never happened. Some communities around Manhattan and the boroughs are proceeding with the celebrations, others are saying no. The closest we may get is the pumpkin pie I had for breakfast, not because of Halloween but because without refridgeration there are consumption priorities.

We are sitting in a coffee place on Broadway at about 40th having coffee we don’t want so we can get wifi and charge up the phones. I hope you find this interesting. I will try to get some pictures up as well but service is still pretty sketchy in from midtown down.

Cheers