Oh, I know it’s not unique to NY/NJ, just that they aren’t often his with ‘hurricanes’ and I think it was a rude shock to a lot of them, especially being ‘city dwellers’ and accustomed to services (and not having resources like wood stoves, etc.) that a natural disaster would occur and affect them so profoundly.
I’ve worked police/fire/EMS dispatch during/aftermath of a hurricane in our area (not coastal) & boy, folks really get mad if their power isn’t back on in a couple of hours, at the most a day or two. When it gets on to two and three weeks, folks are becoming ‘not rational’. Fortunately, after a couple of bad ice storms (power out 3 weeks for some in cold weather) & then Isabelle, many folks around here have generators and know to keep gas on hand or go get it at the first sign of “weather”. We personally have more than one generator ..... during the most recent ‘derecho’, power was off for 3 days and we didn’t miss a beat. NY/NJ folks are getting a harsh lesson, especially so when it’s their first major event in decades and they find out the hard way that the only ‘sure thing’ is what you have prepared for yourself.
I generally agree with your point however most of the areas that were hit in New Jersey are not urban areas but suburban and rural.
The NJ coast is used to bad storms but really nothing like this which literally destroyed some beach communities and carved new channels right through barrier island towns from the ocean to the bay.
Some areas are still cut off and residents have not been allowed to return to see what if anything they have left. I commute to work with some folks from the area and nobody knows a living soul who has ever seen anything near this bad strike the shore.
Lots of people have generators but when 75% of area gas stations are put out of commission in a matter of 24 hours, everybody is in big trouble. I haven’t seen a generator yet that runs on good will alone.