Lessons in the Gas Lines following Super Storm Sandy

Lessons in the Gas Lines 

following Super Storm Sandy

On 29 October 2012 with hurricane force winds and rain, Super Storm Sandy pelted the coastal regions of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  Resulting in several human casualties, billions of dollars in property and material losses and substantial damages to roads, bridges, public transportation systems and other types of infrastructure, Super Storm Sandy comparatively remains the worst natural disaster in United States history.  The longstanding ravages of Hurricane Katrina which pounded the greater New Orleans region on 29 August 2005 seemed insurmountable.  Nine years later as residents of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi rebuild their lives, they offer hope to their fellow citizens in the Northeast region.  In the Breezy Point neighborhood in the borough of Staten Island in New York City, one hundred houses burned in one swoop as an uncontrollable fire ignited inexplicably and raged ferociously.  Firefighters had to withdraw given the magnitude of the blaze.  Interestingly, a wall of water created by the storm encircled the burning houses simultaneously containing the fire and preventing first responders from saving any property.  News footage captured the helplessness of emergency personnel and Breezy Point residents as Mother Nature forced everyone to stand in amazement and watch her lethal and merciless handiwork.  A year and a half following Super Storm Sandy, countless residents in the Northeast strive to rebuild their lives and property as they grapple with local, state and federal governmental officials to obtain financial and other resources. 

A resident of Cambria Heights, New York in the borough of Queens, I received divine and circumstantial favor as my family and neighbors did not experience the tremendous and incalculable losses of our fellow citizens.  Fallen trees littered our lawns, driveways and side streets.   Collapsed power lines conjured fear of shock and electrocution as pools of water lay adjacent.  After remaining patiently indoors and listening to howling winds and observing its fierce destructive abilities, we emerged in the storm’s aftermath with our lives and property relatively intact.  Actually, a huge tree fortunately fell onto a neighbor’s front yard rather than onto both of my cars which I left on the street.  I should have parked them in the driveway between my house and my neighbor’s residence.  Still, my problems in the aftermath of the storm were miniscule compared to thousands of other families who continue to find “a new normal.”

Whether a person sustained substantial or minimal material and property damage in the aftermath of the storm, all citizens in this region faced a circumstantial “gas shortage.”  Unlike the long lines in the late 1970s in which OPEC turned off the valve and deliberately limited the supply of oil to the United States and other Western nations to inflate artificially gasoline prices, I stood in line for hours seeking to purchase gas.  Many stations had gas but were unable to pump and sale it because of power shortages.  Generators were in high demand.  The combination of power outages, inability to pump fuel, need for generators and challenges in transporting gasoline produced a shortage.  For nearly a month following the storm, I had to incorporate purchasing fuel into my daily and weekly routines.  Will I stand in line today?  If not, how many days can I still travel before I absolutely must buy gas?  I had to consider the essential trips to and from school and dropping off and picking up my wife at the commuter train station.  I maximized each trip in the car.  I only used the car when very necessary.  As it related to balancing competing priorities of time and resources, my experience was not unique.  Average residents of the tri-state region faced the same reality. 

I did not appreciate fully that a “gas shortage” threatened daily routines and conveniences.  Cambria Heights borders Long Island; within five minutes of leaving my front door, I reach the Nassau County line.  Though I saw lines forming at neighborhood gas stations, I ignored them as overzealous and reactionary people whose anxiety overwhelmed them.  The residents of Long Island sensed the looming threat of a gasoline shortage before New York City dwellers fully absorbed the magnitude of the burgeoning crisis.  People from Nassau County came into Queens to fill-up their gas tanks.  Despite listening to public service announcements on the radio and television, many New York City residents like me casually and cavalierly disregarded the wise advice to get fuel.

Within days, the magnitude of the gas shortage became evident as everyone had to consider whether he or she had sufficient gas to get to and from work, handle normal familial obligations such as grocery shopping and school transport and respond to medical emergencies if necessary.  Only one quarter of gas stations in the greater New York area were operating.  Power shortages in the Northeast region resulted in delivery challenges.  Some stations waited for greatly anticipated deliveries.  As gas became an invaluable commodity, long lines formed at gas stations with fuel and the capacity to pump it.  By the Thursday following the storm, the gas shortage was most evident to citizens of the City and tri-state region.  Stations created two different lines.  You could stand in line with approved gas containers.  First, you could fill as many gas cans as you could carry.  Within a week, station managers had to enforce strict limits of three containers per purchase. 

On Friday, November 2^nd, I stood in line for the first time.  I immediately recall just how cold it was.  Within the three and a half hours that I kept moving my two containers inch by inch until  I finally made it to a pump, I became colder and colder as a progressive wind chill coupled with cloudiness of a fall day tempted me to abandon a necessary task for my family.  Second, there were car lines, which stretched blocks in length.  Ironically, many people burned a lot of gas as they waited in their vehicles to fill-up their tanks.  Erroneously, some people thought they were saving fuel by turning the ignition on and off as they crawled in the car lines.  Actually, that method consumes more gas than it saves.  Desperation often overpowers reason.  Interestingly, both types of lines demonstrated the best and worst of human nature.  Limited resources usually result in scarcity of human consideration, graciousness and goodwill.

I waited in line with personified frustrations of persons who simply sought to purchase gasoline and return to their daily existence.  I observed many people attempting to buy gas with wrong containers.  The station manager told several people to leave the line; he would not risk a citation and fine for dispensing fuel in milk jugs, glossy party mix jugs, cartons, glass cider and vinegar jugs and other flimsy and insufficient containers.  Despite his concern for his license to operate and consideration of their safety, many of these people persisted in their demands to buy gas; after all, they had waited for an hour or more.  Incredulously, the possibility of transforming their cars into potential bombs, as the gas would have burned through those inadequate containers and probably ignite in reaction to any spontaneous spark, did not alarm any of these frustrated people.