I’m Anderson Cooper. Welcome to the podcast. Stories of survival, lost and people, the latest in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Let’s get started. 

 

We are here in Hoboken, New Jersey, just across the river from lower Manhattan. So is the National Guard. They arrived late last night. They’ve been busy. The crisis is far from over. All across the area police and rescuers are still hard at work, so are power company crews, transit workers, nurses and doctors and e-mass workers. So many people doing heroic work tonight, so many more just trying to do simply things like getting from point A to point B. For example, across the Hudson River to work, or across the East River. All day today with subways out, rush hour was more like a pilgrimage. Thousands of people one step at a time. That should improve a little bit by tomorrow. There is news tonight on bridges, airports and power problems, and almost every minute new pictures of the destruction keep coming in. This is a marina full of boats washed ashore in New York’s Staten Island. These pictures are one thing and people another. Fourteen people died on Staten Island, we know that now. Three more are missing right now. Again this is not over yet. We’re going to cover all the angels tonight, starting with President Obama and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. 

 

With the election near but the disaster now, two political rivals joined hands and got to work. They saw a shoreline battered beyond recognition. Almost beyond belief. Mile after mile of destruction. Home after home. Life after life. On the ground, at a local shelter, no political complications. Just simple need and promises from each man to meet it. 

 

“Governor Christie, throughout this process, has been responsive. He’s been aggressive in making sure that the state got out in front of this incredible storm. And I think the people of New Jersey recognize that the has put his heart and soul into making sure that the people of New Jersey bounce back even stronger than before. So I just

 

want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership. “

 

“I cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for out state and for the people of our state.”

 

“I’m going to ask you to back up, please.”

 

In Hoboken, New Jersey, that meant the National Guard. Nowhere to be seen until late last night, was out in force today. Rescuing people who were stranded and getting hungry. 

 

“We couldn’t have survived one more night without, you know, food, water.”

 

In New York’s fifth borough, Staten Island, police choppers did rooftop rescues. At sea, the Navy is moving three warships into the New York-New Jersey area, capable of serving as offshore helicopter bases. This is still a fast moving emergency. Proof this afternoon evacuation at another major New York hospital, Bellevue. 700 patients on the move. Elsewhere in the city, though, it seemed like no one moving. 

 

“I think anybody that try to drive around New York City today realized there were a lot of cars on the road, traffic is very heavy. “

 

New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, announcing bridges into Manhattan are open but limiting most incoming cars to three occupants or more. As for subways, limited service tomorrow but a lot of work ahead.

 

Kennedy Airport up and running. LaGuardia still closed. That crane now they say it’s tied down and secure. But elsewhere no progress. Only a clearer view of the loss. Here on New York City’s Breezy Point, more homes destroyed than first thought. And on the Jersey Shores a simple fact comes home to the mayor of Seaside Heights. 

 

“We’re at ground zero. We’re taking baby steps right now then we’ll sort it out at the end. But right now just trying to , you know, just kind of get some kind of semblance of what was.”