Hurricane Sandy "Defender of Men"

October 30, 2012

            My family had a tradition of having collies as pets for well over 75 years.  My grandparents had 3 successive collies as did our family each of which lived well over 15 years old.  All of the collies were named Sandy.  I think grandma, who’s name was Annie, coined the first collie’s name after Little Orhan Annie’s little dog, Sandy, and the name stuck, living on with each new dog we raised.  But yesterday, Sandy - a name synonymous with a beautiful personal family memory, turned into one of the worst hurricanes in history.

            Hurricane Sandy hit the eastern coast of the US yesterday evening.   It’s looking to be one of the biggest storms in 200 years and one of the most costliest in US History.   Currently, 33 are believed dead and up to 8 million people are without power.  This was the first witnessed mega-storm some are calling a “franken-storm” because it hit so close to Halloween during a full moon when the tides are the highest.

            The storm surge reached Wall Street, the heart of the world’s financial district in Manhattan, shutting down the New York Stock Exchange for 2 whole days.

The storm is unprecedented in its size even compared to Hurricane Katrina that slammed Louisiana in 2006.  It is tough to forecast just how much damage Sandy will cause but so far there is an estimate of $50 billion in damages and lost business.

            History will remember Sandy as a the largest and one of the most impactful storms in history; so far, affecting as many as 60 Million people which equates to a one-fifth of the US population.  The nation was lucky as the storm also caused problems with at least 5 nuclear power plants, the oldest of which remains on alert in New Jersey bringing back memories of the Fukushima Daiishi Power Plant Disaster that was flooded by a tsunami a year & half ago.

            There was little doubt the storm was going to flood New York but I personally wondered if any buildings would collapse under the weight of the water moving foundations.   Fortunately, only one four-store building seemed to have a partial collapse but at least 23 fires did break out during the storm similar as to what happened with Hurricane Katrina burning down at least 80 buildings in Queens alone.

            The past few years have shown increasingly powerful storms and costlier natural events around the globe.  In a deeper & much larger scale all this may be cyclical.  In fact many scientists are finding more and more ancient cities underwater from the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean to Egypt & possibly one off the coast of Japan.  

            But this story started with the name Sandy which actually has a Greek origin meaning “defending men”.    Perhaps this storm will strengthen our resolve to build  stronger defenses against tidal surges; however, you can’t really beat mother-nature.  Better yet, perhaps the storm will remind us of the perils of living so close to the ocean and to head leaders' calls to evacuate when needed; reminding people to defend themselves from the unbridled forces of nature.

            Our immediate family no longer has any collies.   My parents are septuagenarians and I live in an apartment, not very conducive to larger dogs.  However, my cousin continues the tradition ironically currently raising 3 collies of his own of whom are named Sandy.  The name Sandy may go down as the biggest storm in recent history but deep in my heart, Sandy will always be the family dog.