[Prestidigitweeze]

So sorry to hear that, FBone.

I also have friend whose basement and first floor were flooded -- she's practically wiped out, but like you, she's glad to be alive. I hope that isn't your situation, too.

"Everyone says they have to get rid of the stuff in their basement," she said. "But the storm really makes you do it -- those old radios and blasters, stuff that doesn't work anymore, it's all gone. But my son's paintings, too. Things I can't even think about yet."

She lost everything in her basement as well as their swimming pool and a $40,000 boat they'd kept in the garage. She said the flood was like a high tide that wouldn't recede.

She said that her family was lucky because their electricity panel was upstairs, and was mounted just above the lip of the flood water. The houses on both sides of hers had electricity panels in the basement and the owners will have to pay thousands upon thousands to have their houses rewired and new panels installed before they can flip a single light switch.

Another friend lives in an area in which the flooding was so bad that an inspector is visiting every house individually to make sure there are no repercussions when the power comes back on. The sheer number of people in that area versus the allotted inspectors (I believe there are three or four) guarantees that the lack of power will go on for at least week or two.

I also have a friend who came to New York to start a craft beer bar that also served platters of indigenous fare from local farms. His losses from the storm are now forcing him to close the place just as he'd paid off all his debts and developed a growing following.

Goldman Sachs is currently offering disaster relief to New York businesses in the form of temporarily interest-free loans, but my friend would still have to repay money he might never come close to recouping if he chose to open shop again at a monumental loss.