Quick update, I'm back up and running (obviously), but a lot of the area...isn't. Short version, the hurricane part wasn't so bad as storms go, but meeting up with another storm got us a "barely" hurricane-force nor'easter. So, massive power outages as the temperatures are bouncing around in the forties and fifties.
Some spots got hit very hard, though, with basically the storm shoving the ocean into town. Long Beach is probably about an hour's drive from my place, and the tide pushed through the boardwalk and (if I remember the layout correctly) about a mile inland to the main road, and pushed the cars "safely" parked there into each other. The people who refused to evacuate are, as you might gather, still there, without running water, let alone power. That sounds like the worst spot.
If you'd like a better visual, I'm watching a news report right now of Seaford (similar area, but don't tell people who live in either town I said that...), where they have footage of a houseboat collision...in someone's front yard, a few blocks from the water.
We won't talk about the areas where the sewage treatment plant died, or where another...uhm, I hesitate to use terms like "crapped out" or "threw up," but in the reports, they're all very proud that the pumps are now pumping "away from residential areas," which might imply what wasn't going so well.
For those of you looking to help, and now knowing what to do, the people I'm talking to are really just looking to reach out. So donate, sure, give blood, of course (I live a mile or so from a hospital, and the ambulances were running almost continuously past my house, for a while, so I'm guessing there'll be a need soon), but if you know anybody in the area...give them a call and let them vent for a few minutes.
I think most of the danger is over for the moment, except for the chill (and the disease on the horizon), so mental health will go a long way for a lot of people. With very few other opportunities for entertainment (power, connectivity, gas), brightening the day of someone you've otherwise lost contact with will help.
Unless you're annoying, I mean, in which case call whoever they owe money to...