Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/110301
46 ��� MARCH 2013 ��� WORLD FENCE NEWS This month, I have been asked to talk about my (totally unintentional and undesired!) presence at two historic events in the past decade, and perhaps more important, talk about the lasting impact this has had on me. The first ���historic event��� was the terrorist truck bombing in an underground parking garage in the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan on Friday, Feb. 26, 1993. (The bomb instantly cut off the World Trade Center���s main electrical power line, knocking out the emergency lighting system. The bomb caused smoke to rise up to the 93rd floor of both towers, including through the stairwells, which were not pressurized.) I seem to recall that I was attend- THE HUMAN LINK by Jim Lucci Management Motivational Associates Two historic events ��� One lasting result ing a meeting on the 44th floor and can remember the fear that set into the people, not only at the meeting, but the workers from other companies who spilled out onto the floor as we all gathered in the hall, each one of us wondering what happened and waiting for instructions for evacuation to the ground floor. The elevators were shut down (as a precautionary measure) and a voice was telling everyone to stay calm and that evacuation procedures would begin as soon as possible. Eventually, we all made it down the stairwells, wrapping anything available around one���s nose and mouth to prevent smoke from being inhaled. It was a frightening experience (perhaps portending future developments) and perhaps even more so for me since I worked on the twin tower construc- tion in the 1970s from beginning to end and pretty much recalled that entire experience on the way down and out of the tower. The result of this experience was the realization that one must always try to remain calm in the face of adversity and in these kinds of nerve wracking experiences so as to increase one���s chances of surviving. Now let���s fast forward to the nights of Monday, October 29 and Tuesday, October 30, 2012 and another historic event, Super Storm Sandy. Sandy, as you may recall, made landfall around the Atlantic City, New Jersey area and devastated the New Jersey coastal area and beyond. It then proceeded along the coastline to produce more devastation within the five boroughs of New York City and coastal Long Island, both North Shore and South Shore, before moving up the coast to Connecticut and beyond. In a word, this was the Northeast version of Katrina. The amount of devastation to the greater metropolitan area, including New Jersey, New York and Long Island, was and is of historic proportions. Almost every area that was hit by Sandy (places like the Jersey shore, Breezy Point and Staten Island, N.Y., the Rockaways, communities like Freeport, parts of Suffolk County, to mention a few) will take years to recover from the damages. In my own town of Freeport, the southern part of the village, which is built on two canals (both residential and commercial), was completely devastated. The homes and storefronts in Sandy���s path had anywhere from four to eight feet of water in most of the homes, with some reporting 10 feet or better. The business section of the town known as the Nautical Mile not only had water levels that were reportedly as high as 12 feet surging into their businesses causing complete devastation, but several businesses caught on fire and were burned to the ground because the fire department (and we have a very effective fire department) could not reach them due to a minimum of six-foot-high water in the streets. I should point out that, while all this was happening, winds were upwards of 60 miles per hour with gusts of 70 miles per hour, and a lunar high tide was in effect which created four to six foot surges, or walls of water. In looking over the area postSandy, we saw the effect of the damage in shops and restaurants that cannot reopen anytime soon, if ever. The northwest side of town, where I am located, suffered extensive tree continued on page 48