Today I was released from the office and got to go visit damaged sites. If you have seen the news, you are going to be massively disappointed by the pictures below. You probably are expecting total devastation, and well, the first assignment here (to Hoboken) was not very productive.
So there are eight of us going to ‘scout’ the City of Hoboken’s damaged facilities. We are told there are lots of buildings. We get there and it’s obvious the City is not really ready for us; we divide into two groups of four. The other group is going to look at some buildings (and I heard even that was a bust) and my group was going to go look at some parks….
….small grocery/deli’s everywhere. This is about 1.5 miles from the office. And totally awesome…
The view from the hotel room Sunday afternoon…..
Pier A; that’s Manhattan in the background. See that area of pavers that’s settled. That’s the damage we’re looking at here. I’m not even sure it’s eligible….vegetative stuff growing in the joints could lead you to believe that this damage existed before the hurricane. Some of my colleagues were quick to say no, I think it’s possible (some of the joints are completely gone, which could lead one to believe they were completely blown-out by the storm surge and the subgrade material underneath washed out with it….causing this settlement)
…since we thought we were coming to look at projects that had millions of dollars of damage, this was a bit of a surprise.
(quick note: almost had a serious traffic accident on the way to Hoboken. Basically, to get to Hoboken, you head to the Holland Tunnel and take a left…before you get to the Holland Tunnel, because then you’ll be in NYC. About a mile before the tunnel there is this merge, four lanes from I-78, four lanes from god knows where. Our driver stops at a yellow light, we are in the left lane of the four right lanes that are merging. The green light, for the lanes to the left of us, begins. He sees that and starts to go AS THE OTHER LANES GO ALSO. Of course, there’s lots of honking as we start to move and other cars are cutting us off, he realizes that something is wrong, stops, and then starts to go again! I think I’m the only guy in the car who realized what was happening and I shout STOP! DON’T MOVE ANYMORE! and he jerks to a stop, and finally figures out what is happening, and backs up so that we are back where we should be. Ugh!)
Hey, damage that looks like damage. This step/staircase has been totally destroyed by storm surge….
It should have looked like this. But this is not a very expensive fix….
My most impressive photo of the day. So, this hillside used to extend from, well, where you see the grass suddenly end down to the grass you can see next to the curb. They build this mound using that white geo-foam (think sytrofoam packing made large, easy to install and cheaper than importing fill for some projects) and then covered with sand, and then topsoil. The storm surge basically eroded this hill away…..
See those concrete pavers/seats/tables? They used to be lined up in a regular fashion near that fence to the left, so you could sit near the water. Sandy moved them like shuffleboard pieces…..
That geo-foam is neat, it takes up a lot of space, and is light and easy to install. Sadly, when you apply hurricane force storm surge to it, it moves pretty easy too….I guess they are lucky they didn’t find this stuff two counties away.
So, I wonder? What did the owners of these boats do when the storm came in? Pray that there anchors were up to the task? Probably didn’t have time to get them the heck out of there, right?
This guy’s anchor did not hold up.
Operation Upload Video continues, Kevin has taped and uploaded three basketball games. I borrowed (and will bring a cable from home when I get back there) a cable and watched the games from this weekend tonight on the big HD screen. So yes, there is a From the Sports Desk post coming. Probably tomorrow.
