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Dr. Gerard M. Nadal: Science in Service of the Pro-Life Movement

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« Obama’s Election Mandate, and Ours
Thanksgiving for Sandy Relief »

Sandy and the Ghosts of Mrs. Moore

November 9, 2012 by Gerard M. Nadal

One of the most heartbreaking stories of death here on Staten Island during Superstorm Sandy is that of one Mrs. Glenda Moore who was attempting to drive her little boys to the safety of family in Brooklyn New York when her car stalled out in the rapidly rising storm surge. According to the early reports, Mrs. Moore sat the boys, 2 and 4, on the roof of the car when a wave separated the mother and sons.

Mrs. Moore and her husband are regarded by neighbors as warm and loving parents who are least deserving of the tragedy that has befallen them.

Read it here before continuing.

The emerging narrative is that Mrs. Moore went door-to-door looking for help and was refused; the entire drama occurring in the zone of mandatory evacuation. Neither she nor they should have been there.

It’s simply heartbreaking, but one needs to understand a little geography from the scene to contextualize the story. Mrs. Moore was traveling along a major road that runs right along the boardwalk, three lanes in either direction. She was on the side of the road closest to the water. The houses are all on the other side of the road, called Father Capodanno Blvd.

If one stands on the boardwalk and looks straight out, one is at the mouth of the New York Harbor, where the Atlantic Ocean is funneled in by the angled shorelines of New Jersey and Brooklyn. The full fury of the ocean was funneled precisely at Mrs. Moore’s location.

Having spoken with friends who were in the area, the water came pouring in like a wall. I’ve seen the damage, and helped in the area, which was completely devastated.

The truth is that there was nothing that could have been done. Had I been there and came out to the rapidly rising ocean surrounding my home, with transformers exploding on the telephone poles, in the inky black of night, with waters filled with debris that becomes deadly submerged projectiles in the roiling currents, with power lines coming down in the waters, with no idea of where those boys were with waves crashing against the house in 90 mile per hour winds, I wouldn’t have gone swimming about aimlessly.

The ocean is unforgiving.

This is the tragedy of a mother who drove almost a mile from one main road on higher ground to get to Father Capodanno Blvd, which is right on the beach. It was a fatal error made by a mother who loved her children passionately. However, what this is NOT is a story of is heartlessness, of callousness.

Had anyone gone into those waters, there might well have been a higher body count. The truth is that Mrs. Moore’s boys were already drowned by the time she made it to those doors and started begging for help that was already futile. That’s the cold and brutal reality of the events as reported.

Had I, or any other Staten Islander seen Mrs. Moore lose her grip on the boys, then yes, we would have risked all to dive in after them. But to look out at the ocean rising all about and not know where to begin?

All of Staten Island weeps with Mrs. Moore and her husband, but this story has gone national and international with the potential to unjustly sully the character of a community that is second to none in its shared sense of community.

There is a great, huge difference between refusing to help and refusing to commit suicide. Mrs. Moore fled in the middle of a storm that we all knew for several days was coming. She then drove to the very place where the flooding would be, in the midst of that storm, while there were safe shelters open on the island. To turn this into something that it’s not, her unimaginable grief notwithstanding, cannot be permitted.

We pray for the Moore’s healing, that these two loving parents may be comforted by the community and their Catholic faith, and that the initial bitterness surrounding that night’s events might soon be seen in its proper light.

Eternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord.

And let Perpetual Light shine upon them.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

6 Responses

  1. on November 9, 2012 at 6:03 PM California Yankee

    I’ve wondered about this story, Gerry, thinking that something just wasn’t right. I’ve even looked at Fr. Cappodanno Blvd. on Google maps to get a better of how this happened. I wondered why she had not taken the boys to safety to Brooklyn earlier, given the warnings and the evacuation. There was also no mention of her husband, either, anything at all, including where he was when this happened.

    Thank you for clarifying this story. Heaven forbid the media thoroughly investigate and accurately report without bias. Given that Staten Island is the only borough of NYC that has a Republican presence, I’m not surprised at the media for trying to paint its citizens in a negative light.

    May those little boys rest in peace, and their parents be comforted.


  2. on November 9, 2012 at 7:06 PM Gerard M. Nadal

    Hi Yank…

    The scene at my house at the same hour looked like a disaster movie with transformers exploding, power outages, trees falling, debris flying…

    To make matters worse, all the bridges were closed.

    The father is a solid guy from what I hear, and he was in Brooklyn as well, working on duty with NYC Sanitation. I want to believe that the mother panicked. She lives in my neighborhood and had to drive down to Capodanno Blvd. From the safety of Hylan Blvd, which is well above sea level. She drove nearly a mile, downhill, through the evacuation zone toward an ocean coming at her at the very hour we were told the tide would be high, with the added height from a full moon, and a 13 foot storm surge.

    It was a series of disastrous decisions. I can’t imagine her grief, but I can’t allow her grief to be used to paint this community in such a horrid light. It was, and remains surreal here.

    Pray for us.


  3. on November 12, 2012 at 8:59 PM pt

    Clever title (or headline) for this post, albeit a tiny bit macabre. Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney, if memory serves.


  4. on November 15, 2012 at 3:33 PM sandylouise

    Thank you again for being the voice of reason.


  5. on November 15, 2012 at 3:36 PM sandylouise

    Thank you for being the voice of reason.


  6. on November 18, 2012 at 11:32 AM Toti

    Can someone tell me why not one newspaper has reported that the Moore’s lived in a safe zone (none flood area). Why she took her kids from safety and panicked when only the lights went out (which was expected), from such a storm.



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