The Vermont Of The Five Boroughs

While Anderson Cooper and everyone else were waiting down in Lower Manhattan for the financial capital of the world to be wiped away, the real story may have been in Staten Island, where the City’s hurricane disaster plan seems to have fallen short:

Firefighters in inflatable rafts saved 61 adults and three babies from the floodwaters, leading Mayor Bloomberg to praise the rescue effort.

But locals were fuming over what they found when they returned: flooded living rooms, destroyed cars and water animals in the streets.

They said they would have moved their valuables to higher ground and driven their cars out of the area if they thought they could be in danger.

“Somebody dropped the ball,” said [a 26-year-old resident] of Bulls Head, S.I., whose car and basement was damaged by flash flooding.

“[The water] was 5 feet right there. And this was the safe zone.”