Jason Kottke, who handed over the reigns of his kottke.org to Aaron Cohen while he waited for power to return at his home in NYC, reappeared on his site today to announce he is suspending posts for now.

I say “still dire” because I think the perception among people not in the NY/NJ area is one of “oh, the storm has passed, the flooding is subsiding, and everything is getting back to normal”. But that’s not what I’m hearing.

My sister and her family in North Jersey lost power and PSEG’s best guess as to when it will resume is next Friday night. They’re all fine, spending the weekend with my parents in the relatively unscathed Philadelphia area and figuring out their next move on Monday, but I cannot imagine what it must be like for those who have lost power without the means or local network to keep them afloat.

Roughly two-thirds of the gas stations in the state are closed, mainly because they don’t have power. Every day the power is out is a day this disaster is poised to spiral out of control.

Jason’s post hits exactly the right tone.

Things are getting worse (or certainly have the potential to get worse), not better, especially for those without the resources to care about which cool restaurants are open or how much an iPhone car service is gouging its customers or which Midtown office they’re gonna work on their startup from.