Here is a guy who had some Katrina experiences,some good things in there....Things I hadnt given enough thought to.

http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2008/08/lessons-learned-from-hurricanes-katrina.html

During survival situations like this, it's important for an American citizen to have the mic that Piers Morgan now has. I personally would not feel comfortable being on national TV constantly complaining about a country of which I am not a citizen. Apparently, Piers Morgan has no problem with it, pretty arrogant. Why doesn't he worry about trying to solve the problems in the country of his citizenship? Or take a more humble tone when you're a guest here. He just complains all the time about America without a sincere attempt to solve anything or help anybody. Why is he even on my TV? Is it his official sounding British accent? Why don't the producers put an American in his spot?

Please don't send him back! Could you not just leave him in the middle of the Atlantic in a rowing boat along with that other fellow Quest.

That right there once again confirms my plan to barter electrons makes sense.
-Blast

Regarding generators for hospitals and other critical facilities, placing these at high level rather than in a basement is clearly more sensible in case of flooding, but is by no means a cure all.
My work involves the servicing and testing of generators, and assisting in enquiries after they have failed to function.

IME, generators in large buildings seldom work as intended/as expected. The most common problems seem to be be

Defective or discharged starter batteries.
Lack of ventilation resulting in overheating.
Generator starts but soon stops or breaks due to overloading.
Engine starts but no power supplied to building due to defective, mis-applied, or mis-understood changeover switchgear.
Runs out of fuel, the tank being sized for only a few hours operation, and then not even kept full.
Runs out of lubricating oil, no one having realised that that this needs topping up on a long run.
Or finaly, it all works fine, but someone in charge sends everyone home because they feel that for example powering only 25% of the lighting is unsafe.

My experiences are in the UK, but I suspect that circumstances are broadly similar elswhere.

Not to get into too big a pissing match.

The Comfort is actually operated by civilians (Military Sealift Command); the medical aspect is staffed by (mainly) military - sometimes there are civilians that come along. So, at least regarding cost, there are some other factors there.

The military ships you at least have all the people already on them, as opposed to calling them up and draining other resources. Pull on a couple of Fleet Surgical Teams to augment, and away you go.

The way the Comfort (and I assume the Mercy) operate is much more a surgical/acute care business. Very few of those patients get kept more than a few days. It is NOT staffed for long term care, though obviously this can be augmented. Last I heard it was in Baltimore, so the staff would have to get there before going underway. Wikipedia lists 1000 beds, which includes OR and ICU beds.

The LHA's, also, have potentially thousands of beds. Their job is to transport 2000 Marines around the world - basically a floating hotel/air wing. They have several OR's, an ICU, a helo deck AND a well deck (so hovercraft, aka LCAC's, can be used to transport). They're overall much newer than the Comfort. In many respects, a converted old LHA or LHD should replace the Comfort and Mercy.

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/usnscomfort/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.wasp.navy.mil/

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/10/navy-3-ships-sandy-hurricane-103112w/

Now, that being said, from a P.R. point of view, a bit white ship with a red cross looks better than three haze-gray's.

Exactly. Why don't they replace him with another mindless hot chick like all the announcers on CNN and Fox?
Honestly, I think Piers is payback for exporting the Kardashians and Jersey Shore to the rest of the world.

Video of lower Manhattan last night:
(From the NYT)

http://www.news24.com/Multimedia/World/NY-still-in-darkness-20121102

So glad I don't live in a high rise building with non-working elevators...

given the voting pattern in NYS, it probably won't make much difference in who the state's electoral votes go to.

But, God works in mysterious ways.

In addition to the lines for gas in NYC, there is also a line for...the latest iPad.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3002668/manha...source=facebook