by Clifford F. Thies

When was the last really big one, 2005? And, for going on six years this is the best we can come up with?

Well, since Tropical Storm Irene (no longer even a Cat 1 hurricane) is what we have to work with, Mayor Bloomberg of New York has ordered the 250,000 residents of the Far Rockaway section of the city to evacuate.

Here are some photos of the people of Far Rockaway shivering with fear and desperation, trying to flee. Notice the rampant looting, the abandoned buses in the school parking lots, and the hooligan police shooting people trying to cross over the bridge.

Among those ordered to evacuate are people in hospitals and nursing homes, along with others with chronic illnesses that make it difficult or dangerous to move anywhere fast.

One news story quotes Dr. Irwin Redlener of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. He says moving people who are ill or feeble can even cause deaths.

But, Mayor Bloomberg believes it's better to be safe than sorry.

To help people evacuate with their pets, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has relaxed rules against the bringing of animals on the subway. Exactly how this is supposed to work, I don't really know, since the subways terminate in the Bronx. Perhaps that's where FEMA, the National Guard, the blue helmets of the UN, and Paul Krugman's Space Aliens will pick them up.

Photo credit - AP