High life | 1 November 2012

New York

Trains and buses have shut down, people have been evacuated from eastern New Jersey and the southern tip of Manhattan, and as of writing Hurricane Sandy has hit and hit hard: 65 million residents on the north-east of America have been affected, New York Hospital’s main power has blown up and seriously ill patients had to be carried out in the middle of the night by skeleton crews. Supermarkets are empty, their shelves stripped by people who for once took warnings to heart. Flashlights, ropes, batteries and other such contraptions are sold out, the streets resemble Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, and constant TV bulletins are warning that the world as we know it is about to end. Staten Island is underwater, as are parts of New Jersey and Long Island. I went to judo practice and a giant crane collapsed next to the club sending everyone fleeing.