Hurricane Sandy Blackout Video of Lower Manhattan

After Hurricane Sandy swept through New York City at the end of October, much of Lower Manhattan was left underwater and without power.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

After Hurricane Sandy swept through New York City at the end of October, much of Lower Manhattan was left underwater and without power. Once the sun went down on the first night of November, comedian and Untapped New York contributor Jeff Seal grabbed his video camera, got on his bike and tracked down any glimmers of light he could find. He filmed until he got a flat tire, and then continued to film while trekking on foot until his camera ran out of battery.

Seal roamed through the East Village, West Village, Flatiron, down 34th street and 23rd street, among other areas. He was able to capture luminous scenes of candlelit bars and closed 24 hour diners, the reassuring glow of food trucks, and the men and women of the MTA, NYPD, FDNY and Sanitation department keeping things going. These captured moments of humanity amidst the sudden loss of light are best explained in Seal's collected footage. Don't miss the very end, when the camera pans and says it all at the intersection of Madison and 33rd Street.

See more coverage of Hurricane Sandy on Untapped New York, including a photo essay of the aftermath by Wyatt Gallery, surveillance fashion photography by Styleblaster in Williamsburg during the storm, and what the city learned from both the Great Blizzard of 1888 and Hurricane Sandy.

Get in touch with Jeff: @jeffoseal

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot