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.