Once Hurricane Irene had passed and the skies had cleared, most of us who were not affected did not pay much attention to the aftermath. As with all natural disasters, I tend to lose interest if it doesn’t immediately affect me. In New York State alone the damage was formidable. I never stopped to consider the ramifications, but flash floods are as bad as tornadoes in terms of destruction. After a flood, farmers can’t feed their livestock, fertile topsoil has been washed away, supplies can’t get in because the roads are gone, long term power outages wreak havoc on already compromised communities. In short, the long term effects are devastating. What can you do when your home has been filled with raw sewage? Fun facts (gleaned from the CNN website): storm cleanup in NYS alone is estimated at $1Billion and agricultural losses are in the area of $45 Million. 600 homes were destroyed, 22 state bridges were closed, 150 major state highways were damaged, 145,000 acres of farmland were affected, 9 people died, and 6 towns were wiped out. New York can’t catch a break. Just when I thought Andrew Cuomo was going to be the great white hope, he’s now saddled with a costly natural disaster. Patterson, N.J. was so bad that Obama chose it for his photo opportunity. My sister and brother-in-law, who live in New Canaan, Ct. near the Long Island Sound, headed for the hills before Irene struck. I still have not heard if their property was damaged. And speaking of can’t catch a break, tropical storm Lee just hammered the Gulf coast, making a direct hit on New Orleans. I heard on the news that this slow moving rainmaker dropped over 10 inches of rain on the Big Easy, and as much as 15-20 inches elsewhere along the coast. And Hurricane Katia is on deck. Happy Labor Day! So much for the desperately needed infusion of tourist dollars into the Gulf Coast.
In the “what else” department, teen heart throb Justin Bieber had a fender bender in his new Ferrari. How old is that kid? My first car was a used VW Beetle. The much-coveted Stanley Cup was dented when it fell off a table in Newfoundland. Is this a bad omen for the NHL? Fire that handler with the white gloves; isn’t it his job to protect The Cup? Looking for a place to park your investment dollars in these uncertain times? How about North Korea? I read that Kim Jung Il, the ever-charming, oddly coifed fearless leader of this little understood communist country, is looking for foreign investors to pour money into the Mount Kumgang resort in the Southeast part of his country. South Koreans had been the biggest investors (approximately $443 Million) until one of their countrymen was shot dead in 2008 after wandering into a nearby military zone (Mount Kumgang is very near the DMZ). Not a great draw for tourists. Now, as S. Korean investors try to pull their money out of the mothballed project, N.Korea is saying “you snooze you lose.” What more could you ask for in a resort investment … beautiful surroundings, good food, the omnipresent threat of spontaneous murder or incarceration at the hands of a ruthless despot? Where do I sign up? What those North Koreans need is Donald Trump as a consultant. The Humpster would have them in the black in no time. And I think he and Il have the same barber.
My heartfelt sympathy for all the victims of Irene. I suppose that by comparison to some of the other recent natural disasters in the world, including the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, it could have been worse, but that’s easy for me to say, safe and dry in my Northern Ontario home.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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