FEMA Ignores Deaf Victim of Hurricane Sandy

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Deaf Staten Island victim of Hurricane Sandy says pleas go unheeded. When police with megaphones rolled through Carol Lazorisak’s Oakwood Beach neighborhood in the hours before the hurricane thrust ashore, she did not hear their announcement about evacuation help.



In the days after the surge ripped her Tarlton Street home off its foundation, filled it with water to a depth of 5 feet and tossed her shed nearly a block away, she joined the thousands of other dazed victims at Miller Field in New Dorp, seeking some answers and a measure of comfort.



But for Ms. Lazorisak, who has been Deaf since birth, walking through the bustling relief center was like being in a movie on silent. There were no signs providing information for the Deaf or directing people to translation services. She left feeling more isolated than ever.



“I am extremely frustrated because of the lack of communication, the lack of help, the lack of information. I was left lost and in the dark for the first two weeks after Sandy destroyed my home,” said Ms. Lazorisak, as her friend Marybeth Imsho translated from American Sign Language a service she has provided during virtually every face-to-face meeting with FEMA or city agencies, and at the borough president’s town hall meeting last month where no interpreter was provided for nearly a dozen Deaf audience members. “My home is going to be demolished by the city in the next week and I need information.” Read more: http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2012/12/deaf_staten_island_victim_of_h.html



Carol Lazorisak's Oakwood Beach home was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Adding to her frustration is the fact that adequate interpreter services from FEMA, the city and at public meetings relating to the disaster have not been made available, says Ms. Lazorisak, who has been Deaf since birth. SOURCE

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath Video

RAW VIDEO: [CC] - Hurricane Sandy aftermath. Inside the eerily still metropolis the day after Frankenstorm.



NEW YORK CITY - It blasted the ocean itself over dunes, seawalls and berms and into downtowns, tunnels and subways. It killed dozens of people, destroyed famed landmarks and amusement parks, pushed houses off their foundations and toppled trees.



It virtually shut down New York City, the nation's largest city, with major airports, highways, and bridges and tunnels in and out of Manhattan shut down, just as they were after 9/11.



For millions of people in New York City and elsewhere, the lights remain out, communications remain down and floodwaters, downed trees and power lines still make roads impassable.



Superstorm Sandy: Death Toll Up to 50, but Some Steps Toward Recovery.

However, some of the hardest-hit areas on the East Coast were beginning to take the first steps towards recovery. For instance, some New York bridges, tunnels, highways and airports reopened or were slated to be reopened by Wednesday morning.

So far, Sandy has been blamed for at least 50 people, according to The Associated Press, and left more than 8 million customers without power. The number of dead continued to rise by the hour a day after the storm made landfall near Atlantic City, N.J., and rocked states including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia. Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/superstorm-sandy-17-dead-estimated-million-power/story?id=17594562#.UJDAWXruqSp



ABC News - Slideshow Superstorm Sandy Pummels East Coast: http://abcnews.go.com/US/slideshow/superstorm-sandy-pummels-east-coast-17561482

President Obama: 'This is a Serious and Big Storm'

VIDEO [CC] - Hurricane Sandy Preparedness Press Conference US President Barack Obama: 'This is a Serious and Big Storm'.



WASHINGTON - Much of the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States is braced for the onslaught of wind, rain, high tides and even snow Hurricane Sandy is forecast to deliver on Monday and Tuesday.



The massive storm 'Frankenstorm' effects already were being felt Sunday night along the Atlantic beaches in North Carolina and Virginia, and rain bands extended far inland. As I write this, it is raining in the nation’s capital and the winds have picked up.



One of those emergency personnel is the president of the United States, Barack Obama, who on Sunday visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is overseeing what is expected to be a major disaster as Sandy crosses the New Jersey coast on Monday... Read more http://blogs.courier-journal.com/politics/2012/10/28/as-hurricane-sandy-approaches-on-east-coast-president-barack-obama-warns-of-serious-and-big-storm/

Here is a White House transcript of their remarks:



THE PRESIDENT: Well, good afternoon, everybody. Obviously, all of us across the country are concerned about the potential impact of Hurricane Sandy. This is a serious and big storm. And my first message is to all the people across the Eastern seaboard, Mid-Atlantic, going north, that you need to take this very seriously and follow the instructions of your state and local officials, because they are going to be providing you with the best advice in terms of how to deal with this storm over the coming days.



We just had an excellent meeting with the FEMA team here, the various agencies that are in charge, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and others that are going to need to respond very quickly.



Under Craig Fugate’s leadership here at FEMA we’ve had a chance to talk to the regional officials as well. And I just had a phone call with the governors of the potentially impacted states, as well as some of the major cities in the region.



At this stage, everybody is confident that the staging process, the prepositioning of resources, commodities, equipment that are going to be needed to respond to this storm are in place. But as Craig has emphasized, this hasn’t hit landfall yet, so we don’t yet know where it’s going to hit, where we’re going to see the biggest impacts. And that’s exactly why it’s so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in.



I want to thank all the members of the team for the outstanding work that they’re doing. But the other thing that makes this storm unique is we anticipate that it is going to be slow moving. That means that it may take a long time not only to clear, but also to get, for example, the power companies back in to clear trees and to put things back in place so that folks can start moving back home.



So my main message to everybody involved is that we have to take this seriously. The federal government is working effectively with the state and local governments. It’s going to be very important that populations in all the impacted states take this seriously, listen to your state and local elected officials.



My message to the governors, as well as to the mayors, is anything they need, we will be there. And we’re going to cut through red tape. We’re not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules. We want to make sure that we are anticipating and leaning forward into making sure that we’ve got the best possible response to what is going to be a big and messy system.



So again, thank you, everybody. Craig, would you like add to something?



MR. FUGATE: Again, as the President says, it’s going to really come down to the public heeding those evacuation orders, taking protective measures. If they haven’t gotten ready, they can go to Ready.gov. Get information on how to protect them and their families, but also check on your neighbors. This is going to be a big storm. We need to be there for each other.



THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Let me emphasize that again Ready.gov for the general public. If you need to know how to respond, that’s where you can get centralized information.



But I think Craig’s point is exactly right. In times like this, one of the things that Americans do is we pull together and we help out one another. And so, there may be elderly populations in your area. Check on your neighbor, check on your friend. Make sure that they are prepared. If we do, then we’re going to get through this storm just fine. But we’re going to have to make sure that we are vigilant, and vigilant for a couple of days. Don’t anticipate that just because the immediate storm has passed that we’re not going to have some potential problems in a lot of these communities going forward through the week.



All right. Thank you very much, everybody.

Sources: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/politics/2012/10/28/as-hurricane-sandy-approaches-on-east-coast-president-barack-obama-warns-of-serious-and-big-storm/



Complete information on Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, including all advisories, watches and warnings. Recent hurricanes and tropical storms: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/



The Perfect Storm: Hurricane 'Frankenstorm' Sandy - As Hurricane Sandy approaches the east coast of the United States and Canada, weather forecasters are wondering if Sandy will be worse than the 'Perfect Storm' of 1991. As seen on article: The Perfect Storm: Hurricane 'Frankenstorm' Sandy