Getting Gas After Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is now more than two weeks in the past, and in Bay Ridge at least, things are back to normal.

As I wrote post-storm, not much changed in Bay Ridge in any case. There was a gigantic tree that fell on a house about a block away, but the house didn't seem to sustain much damage, and the tree has been hauled away. We've heard that the promenade next to the shore was beaten up, but we haven't been to see it.

Either way, neighborhood life has largely moved on. Of course, there are still relief efforts for the parts of New York that were hit much worse -- residents here and elsewhere are collecting and delivering food and supplies to the waterfront communities that were, and still are, devastated. Things are definitely not back to normal for residents in these neighborhoods.

Luckily for Paul and me, our biggest concern was keeping gas in the car so we could make it to the hospital when Edith decides she wants to make her grand entrance. Our tank was just fine immediately following the storm. But after the hurricane, when the subways were still shut down, Paul drove to work as he normally does. A commute of about five or six miles that normally takes around 40 minutes took two-and-a-half hours instead. By the time he returned to Bay Ridge, the tank was less than a quarter full.

So the car stayed parked. When the subway was restored to downtown Brooklyn, Paul took it to work for the next two weeks. Stations that had gas had lines that were hours long. Drivers had better luck filling up their tanks in Staten Island, but the bridge toll (almost $10, even with our E-ZPass) hardly made the quest worth it since we didn't absolutely need more fuel and could get by without it.

Finally, a gas rationing plan was instituted last Friday: cars with license plates ending in odd numbers could get gas on odd-numbered days. Vehicles with license plates ending in even numbers or 0 could get gas on even-numbered days. Paul filled up the tank on Wednesday without waiting in line. He didn't see anyone checking to make sure he had the appropriate license plate number. (He did.)

The rationing is to continue at least through the week in New York City, although it ended Tuesday in New Jersey, where it also started earlier. In the meantime, Paul is happily driving to work again, and we have plenty of gas left to spare to get us to labor and delivery.