For the first time since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, New York City stood still yesterday. The normally bustling streets stood desolate as residents shut their doors and sealed their windows bracing for the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy.
Yesterday some of the T&T?citizens who have made the city their home huddled together, praying for the hurricane to pass them by with little damage
Bayside, New York resident Farida Laurie, 52, formerly of Victoria?Village, San?Fernando, described New York as a ghost town yesterday afternoon during a telephone interview. She said she was staying indoors waiting for the hurricane to make landfall. "It is very, very windy. From my house I can see the trees blowing side to side. It is just crazy outside," Laurie said.
The New York city subway was closed on Sunday and traffic was restricted as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the city. Laurie said it was her first hurricane. She added: "I never expected that?I would experience a hurricane in New York. New York is not equipped for a hurricane, so a category one is like a category four." She said she has been praying and "what happens, happens."
Laurie's sister Acklima Mohammed, an account executive at Guardian Media Ltd's San Fernando office, said she was concerned for her sister's safety. "I am praying for her safety and the safety of everyone in the hurricane's path.?I have a lot of friends in?New York as well," Mohammed said.
GML San Fernando office manager Hazel?Ross Perot also expressed fear for her relatives' safety. Ross-Perot said her brother, Kenneth Ross, his wife and their two children decided to remain in their two-storey East Keansburg, New Jersey home instead of evacuating.
She said her brother, originally from Glaslough, County Monaghan, Ireland, stocked up on basic necessities in the hope the hurricane would not be too bad but "It is looking bad." "I am very concerned for their safety and I am praying it will pass and they will not be badly affected," she said yesterday.
Facebook was flooded with comments from locals in New York praying for the hurricane to pass them by. Michael Felmine of Brooklyn, father of T&T Guardian reporter Kevon?Felmine, admitted he had never experienced a hurricane before. In a Facebook conversation, Felmine senior said he was not scared. However, he said he had seen the effects of a hurricane on television and, "it can be very scary, especially when the winds are over 100 miles per hour."
He said he chose not to leave his home because "most people would have been stranded and it would have been difficult to get back home. Everything shut down, airports, trains, buses tunnels, bridges and they are telling you to keep off the road. It is very dark."
Mahadeo Ragoonath, of Queens, said conditions were deteriorating and the winds were bad. "The trees outside my window bending down, touching the ground and going back up. That is how strong the winds are. I am inside. We are just waiting for the hurricane. We do not have much rain," he said yesterday afternoon.