New York could find it harder to recover from superstorm than 9/11

ONE of the first and easily the most upsetting of sights to confront Eddie Travers and his wife Derbhla was that of a dead man being put into a body bag.

It was six in the morning last Tuesday week when they had battled their way through the debris in lower Manhattan to reach the pub and restaurant — the Fraunces Tavern on Pearl St — that they manage in the heart of New York’s financial district.

The unfortunate dead man had been a taxi driver. He had not obeyed the evacuation order — as many didn’t, probably thinking the danger was being exaggerated — and was in the area as the water swept in from the sea. His car stalled and he got out to run. About 8ft of water swept down the street and the man apparently went with the swell, drowning.

When I visited the pub on this Tuesday evening Eddie said it was feared that at least two other people drowned in nearby basements. These basements cannot be reached yet. When they are examined the most unpleasant and tragic of sights awaits those charged with the task.

Such stories — and others, such as the death of two young children of an Irish father drowned on Staten Island as their mother tried to escape the water that had overturned their car — are many in New York.

It is true that Superstorm Sandy caused much devastation across the Caribbean too, taking many lives and getting a lot less media attention, even though those lives are no less important, the stories no less tragic. But the stories from New York get the attention because of the Irish connections to this extraordinary city; it is one of the most significant, and certainly most prominent, homes away from home for the Irish people. Now, again, just a decade after 9/11, it is a place of death and destruction.

And if you put aside the deaths, the hardship that has been imposed upon many of the people of New York is considerable. Parts of Staten Island and Queens have been devastated, and thousands of people have lost their homes, just as they have across the Hudson River in New Jersey, also home to many first generation Irish and the children of emigrants, too. Others have seen their homes greatly damaged.

The loss of power to others whose homes remain untouched has not merely been an inconvenience. The city became noticeably colder in recent days. There are severe shortages of petrol too, making it very difficult for people to get to work with the public transport system in chaos and detours required by the closure of some of the tunnels between islands. As I left the city on Wednesday evening a blizzard of snow was sweeping in, a new storm adding to the misery.

Much is made of New York’s resilience. It led to the belief among city officials that last Sunday marathon could take place. Hundreds of Irish, my wife included, had been prepared not to travel, not least because flights to New York did not resume until last Thursday morning, but then flew to the US having been given reassurances that the race would take place. How typical of New York, we thought. The show must go on. Foolish us, but more foolish the authorities.

It is not until we all got here that we realised just how crazy an idea running the race was. The difficulty in getting into Manhattan was one thing, but it was what we saw on the television, especially from the starting point on Staten Island, that made us all doubt. It would have been offensive in the extreme to have used the limited transportation available to get to Staten Island and to then have run away from the problems, as if on a surreal tour through the troubled spots, before running back to the largely untouched parts of New York.

What we had seen on television in Ireland was just a few minutes of footage, in our newspapers just a few dramatic photographs. Once there, and exposed to the reports on a more regular and more extensive basis, it was clear that the race could not go ahead, no matter how normal things seemed to those housed in the available hotels above 38th St, where the electricity was supplied. Heck, even the elections were taking second billing, even if that had much to do with New York and New Jersey being in the bag for US President Barack Obama almost no matter what.

The Irish racers understood the decision immediately. But it raised all sorts of questions as to what was going in New York at official level.

I spoke to people in New York who feel that it will be more difficult for the city to recover from this latest disaster than from 9/11. At first, to me that seemed bizarre. After all, nearly 3,000 people died when the Twin Towers collapsed. So many people suffered the loss of loved ones, in this city of more than 8m people. There were deep psychological scars.

But the destruction was contained to a single area. It was caused by forces — terrorists — that New Yorkers felt could be confronted and beaten eventually. No terrorists were going to make New Yorkers cower.

This time it is different. The clean-up required is over a vast, spread out area. The deprivations in some areas are going on far longer than expected.

And the fear of further storms happening again and again, is ever-present.

It doesn’t matter whether or not people believe climate change is man-made or not. It seems that not even a major behaviour change by humans is going to reverse the evolving weather patterns; the best humans can do is mitigate the potential damage.

IT will be fascinating to see how New York responds and if the money required to provide new defences against future flooding will be provided. One fascinating TV report that I watched suggested the erection of a major flood barrier, at an estimated cost of $15bn (€11.8bn), could do the trick. But it could take 10 years to erect, at least. Climate changes means that what were once described as “once in a century” storms could happen once a decade.

There’ll also be people who’ll complain at the cost. Ironically, these are likely to be led by those who would spend many multiples of that on equipping the US army and navy to fight a “war on terror” and who would willingly kill many in that fight.

New York will recover. It is most certainly the New York way. And New York is a city that is almost always building, that replenishes itself regularly, so that old buildings are revamped, and new appear everywhere.

But it may be a different New York. The rebuilding may not be possible in some of the areas that are worst affected. Much of the flooded land was on reclaimed marshes. In recent decades much of the building had been at sea level, whereas the high water mark for floods should be 10ft onto higher ground.

As I write this from an aircraft delayed from take-off because of a snow storm at JFK Airport, I think of Eddie and Derbhla Travers. There was no insurance for the pub they manage, the damage is likely to cost hundreds of thousands to repair. Everything in the basement — computers, fridges and air conditioning units — were ruined. The wooden floors may have to be replaced; 45 people are waiting to return to work. They are determined to get things going again. They are first generation Irish who are imbued by the New York way, which is to strive to achieve. I wish them — and all the people of New York — the best of luck.

* The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.