New York Infrastructure Collapse

Associated Press
May 5, 2010

In the wake of the colossal winter storm that has been hammering the East Coast, a new surge of snow and ice landing on the region has finally caused New York state's infrastructure to collapse entirely. Governor Malden announced on Wednesday morning that the blizzard that has now leveled more than ten feet of snow on the east coast has "crippled the state's ability to function" beyond repair.

Wednesday afternoon the strain on New York City's already damaged electrical grid has caused widespread blackouts citywide, plunging the whole of Midtown into darkness. Authorities estimate that millions are now without power across the State of New York alone and with temperatures continuing to drop, the death toll from exposure is expected to skyrocket.

Earlier today, reports were coming in to the beleaguered NYPD of n increase in home invasions from city residents without power seeking to find shelter and warmth in still powered tenement buildings in the Bronx and lower Manhattan. In an effort to curtail violence and offer shelter, the Linderman Group has opened the doors of its palatial Corinthian Hotel — which operates on its own independent power grid — to the public as an emergency shelter.

Other independently powered structures such as St.Luke's Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital and Coler-Goldwater Memorial Hospital have all opened their doors to help mitigate the burden of now unsuitable private shelters that have lost power. Crowding is expected to be a major issue in all of these shelters.

To help combat the crisis of food shortages and failure of the city's public works and transit systems to cope with the weather system, National Guard members and volunteer relief workers have been flooding in from around the country up and down the east coast to help dig residents out, volunteer at shelters and maintain a semblance of order in the fact of the storm.

When asked about the storm's increasing power, National Weather Service indicated that the blizzard had shown no signs of slowing from its current pace, and that if it continues to lay snow down on the east coast it could become the single most devastating natural disaster in recorded history, costing millions of lives.

At present, cities further north and south from the heart of the storm are only now beginning to feel what the New York and New Jersey areas have been feeling for over a month now, and there are hopes that the source of the storm and the individual or individuals potentially responsible will be able to be stopped, but no signs of an end have come yet.

Governor Malden warns New Yorkers to "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."

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