And Sandy is still not "over".

Last week I called one of our regular dog-sitters to ask about her availability for some upcoming weekend dates. When I finally got her on the phone, she said "I haven't gotten back into my house yet. When I came back after the evacuation, there was a forty-foot boat in my front yard. I had four feet of sea water in my [one-story] house. Everything was destroyed: furniture, clothing, appliances, everything. I've been living in a hotel for seven weeks, and my own dogs are still in boarding. They say there's some chance of me getting back into the house in February."

There are still thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people in her situation.

One of my department colleagues, who lives much farther from the ocean, got back into his house only around Christmas, and the last time I spoke to him he still had power in only half the outlets in the house.