Everybody okay (again)?

[alice wellintown]

We had a ton of rain here in NYC; the wind was not so powerful, maybe
30 kts with higher gusts but nothing, from what we've seen here, above
75 kts as forcast by NOAA & NWS, no hurricane winds, no trees down or
power lines down here. The rain, measured at about 6 inches in Central
Park thus far, with more (maybe 4-5 inches more) on the way will cause
flooding in lower evacuation areas still. The subways are closed; this
makes sense, as we know from V. the system under the street here has
several layers and getting the water out to the rivers and to the
Atlantic can be very difficult under these circumstances.  The beaches
have suffered again, but erosion of beaches is ongoing and, in the
long run, a battle we will lose here. Much comes down to prep work and
money. So trees were trimmed and drains unclogged and streets
maintained and so on in wealthy parts of the city, so the impact is
lower than in areas poorly maintained. I suspect the storm was a net
positive to NY, as the federal, state, city, along with its citizens,
spent money and, at least for a few days injected the pent up demand
that Ben Bernanke so desperately wants to ease into the economy.