The morning news has been mostly video from the New York City region. Every reporter, correspondent, stringer, and contributor who can muster rain boots or waders is busily taping their self wading through storm surge or storm drain overflow so that they, too, can upload their on-the-spot report to all corners of a spherical world.
We’ve been treated to obligatory shots of flying debris, stall and flooded cars, and flooding at the coast. We’ve seen multiple reporters leaning into storm winds to demonstrate their force. We have seen countless radar loops that track and predict the storm’s path.
And in any storm such as this, there will be, and are, the run of the mill citizens who think that they can carry on a normal life in the middle of a hurricane. There were people out jogging at 0830 in New York City, and I’m certain they were out in other storm-damaged cities as well.
As always, a significant number of people either fail to understand the risk they face or believe that they are immune to risk for any of many reasons.
When storm runoff and flooding are severe enough to lift storm drain covers and push them aside, they leave a great water-filled hole for joggers to fall into and then be swept downstream underground. New York City has no above ground power lines. Other cities do and power lines are down. A live power line in a flooded road or field is not something to ignore. The unwitting person who steps into that puddle is going to regret it.
There have been numerous arguments about new networks sending their crews out to tape these storms. It is one thing to expose the crews to harm. The crews can choose to limit their participation if they feel too much at risk. The local people who seek to emulate the news crews, and those who are foolish enough to think they can safely go wandering about are, to some degree, being encouraged by the networks’ insistence upon showing such video tape. Again, the local people can avoid such dangerous behavior if they think long enough.
The people most at risk, those who receive no lasting accolades, who have no ability to opt out of danger, are the public safety workers, cops, firefighters, national guard, health care providers, and linemen who have to risk their lives in storm conditions to save the idiots who should have known better.
It is time to follow the lead of rescue teams in national parks and in other nations. Survivors of such stupidity are billed for the services they require to rescue them. For this reason, many climbers in Europe buy “rescue insurance” to cover their risk of needing assistance on the mountain.
Is it time for storm chaser, storm videographer insurance?
It is nice to be here today. The sky is mostly clear. It is not overly hot, and we have enough altitude, with suitable topography, to cool things down tonight.
School starts in two days.
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