Coaster Murray Smith planned to play some squash and take in the sights last week in New York City. Little did he know that he and his family would be hunkered down with millions of New Yorkers riding out a massive hurricane last Saturday night.
Smith, who is a conservation officer on the Sunshine Coast, flew into New York on Aug. 25 to begin preparations for the 2011 World Police and Fire Games. He was to start play on the weekend in the squash competition alongside some other 15,000 athletes from around the world competing in 65 sports.
But hurricane Irene kyboshed many of those plans as it made its way up the east coast slamming communities with heavy rain and winds that caused wide-spread power outages to millions and millions of dollars worth of damage.
"For the first time in New York history, the subway was shut down at noon due to flooding concerns in the subway," said Smith in an email to Coast Reporter on Saturday night. "On the shopping streets of Harlem, things were eerily quiet with 90 per cent of the shops closed. Everyone was following the mayor's direction to stay inside, stay off the streets and prepare for 100 mph winds. More than 300,000 have been evacuated from the sea level areas of the city to emergency shelters."
Smith said when he and his family did venture out before the storm hit the city early Sunday morning, line-ups at grocery stores were packed as everyone was "stocking up."
"I talked to a couple of NYPD who said all of their staff are working in New York and that they could expect to work three shifts in a row," Smith said.
After the storm blew through Smith ventured out Sunday morning to survey some of the damage from outside their central Harlem apartment building they were staying in.
"From where we were staying, things were pretty quiet overnight. Some rain and wind but not a crazy amount," he said. "When we went outside there was the odd tree branch broken. The neighborhood was strewn with garbage from the strong winds still around.
"On the news there were considerable flooding in Queens, Brooklyn and the low lying areas as suspected. However, overall, the mayor has been questioned for over reacting. Now the entire subway system is being assessed for damage and tree debris before the system can be made operational. They expect the system will be operational by late afternoon on Monday."
Smith said 12 of the 65 events of the Games were cancelled and his squash competition was reduced to two days of action. He began play on Monday.
"The storm had a considerable impact on the Games organizers, participants, volunteers and supporters," Smith said. "All in all, our storms on the Coast seemed more extreme than what we experienced here."
