Sandy was cruel to NYC’s elderly who refused to evacuate

PanARMENIAN.Net - Even with her Coney Island apartment squarely in the path of Superstorm Sandy, Loraine Gore was staying put. At age 90, she said, she had her reasons.

"I'm tired," she told a friend who urged her to evacuate. "I don't want to go."

After floodwaters subsided, Gore's body was found face-down in her home, one of nearly a dozen New Yorkers over the age of 65 who perished in the storm.

While Sandy claimed victims as young as toddlers, it was crueler to the city's elderly.

Some were vulnerable because of poor health. The power failure cut off the oxygen supply for an ailing 75-year woman living in Manhattan's East Village. Her grandson rushed to a nearby hospital to get a manual tank, but by the time he returned, she had died from an apparent heart attack.

Others died fleeing the storm. On Wednesday, Oct 31police discovered the bodies of an 89-year-old man and his 66-year-old wife next to their car in a vacant lot on Staten Island. Police believe the couple died after their car became submerged in water.

Most drowned alone in bedrooms, living rooms and basements that flooded, AP reported.