Eye of the Storm

We've known for years that the Northeast could face a major hurricane at some point in the future. The further away we were from the last hurricane to hit, the closer we are to the next one. Yet, more people now live on vulnerable coastlines, and emergency preparedness is nowhere near as good as it should be both at the personal level or at the local, state, or federal levels.

Long Island could be especially hard hit from a major hurricane striking the coast.

Are we prepared should one hit? Are our elected leaders doing their jobs by making sure that emergency preparedness is a top priority and that emergency management organizations are fully engaged and on top of the situation, taking into account lessons learned from Katrina, Rita, and Wilma? Is anyone asking serious and tough questions of our elected leaders to make sure that they're properly dealing with the issue?

Or, will we once again see that local governments, along with state and federal agencies, have waited until it was too late to prepare and that lax planning (urban planning, zoning, and emergency planning) all contribute to a mass casualty event?

Far too many people wait until it is too late to prepare for natural disasters that are a regularly occuring feature of living on this planet. The time to prepare for hurricanes is well before the season starts, and to make sure that you've got some kind of plan to deal with such a crisis.

The New York area ranks third among major American cities most likely to be slammed by a hurricane - behind New Orleans and Miami.

"Will houses built along the shoreline be able to withstand 130-mph to 140-mph winds? We lost a lot of lives to Katrina and I don't think anybody wants to see a repeat of that," Reeves said.

But that's exactly what could happen if a natural disaster strikes, according to experts.

"The city is not prepared," said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, (D-Westchester), who has studied the state's evacuation plans for years and issued reports on their woeful inadequacy.

He said the number of people who would have to be evacuated has been underestimated and the public transportation needed to do it is inadequate.

Even more vulnerable than New York City, meteorologists say, are the Hamptons, which could see huge areas of land disappear under water if the storm surge the hurricane generates is powerful enough. Fire Island, a glorified sandbar of multimillion-dollar homes, would likely be wiped out.

Lest anyone think that these scenarios are too far fetched, note the massive destruction along the entire Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida caused by the 2005 hurricane season. Hundreds of communities were devastated and the infrastructure (roads, bridges, buildings, rail, communications, power, and water/sewage) is still in need of massive repairs.

Are we prepared to deal with that kind of scenario? I don't think so.