New York City Hurricane Sandy

With the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy concerning men and women across the Atlantic seaboard, New York City seems to have quite the clean-up, according to Lisa Foderaro. Her article, Storm Inflicted Beating on Trees In New York City, cites incredible numbers of collapsed trees and tree limbs, and the massive amount of work needed to clear them from roads and the roofs of destroyed buildings. The New York Times reporter is writing to her American audience to inform them on the damage, but the comments the article received argued that more needed to be done to ensure the trees lost, and perhaps even more than those lost, are replaced.


One rhetorical device Foderaro used was the incorporation of personal stories from New York City citizens affected by downed trees, in order to draw on the audience's emotions. She writes,

"Frederick Quint, 49, who grew up in the house, at Midland Parkway and Henley Road, treated the workers to a couple of pizzas as a token of his thanks. The trees, each measuring 40 inches in diameter, had fallen at 8 o’clock that Monday night as the hurricane tore through the city. The trees hit two others on Mr. Quint’s property, and together they smashed a parapet over the sunroom, as well as windows, gutters and roof tiles.

'It was a loud thud,” he said, describing the impact on the three-bedroom house. Watching from his front door as the loader hoisted what remained of the pin oaks, he said: “There they go. It’s distressing. I grew up with those trees.'"(1). Without this interview, the article would have felt dry and emotionless, because it would merely cite facts of the number of trees that have collapsed within the city. Using Mr. Quint's story, the article effectively conveys not just the physical damage of Hurricane Sandy, but the emotional as well. Furthermore, one story combined with a fact about the number of trees that have collapsed allows the audience to comprehend the problem without becoming overwhelmed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/nyregion/hurricane-sandy-inflicted-a-beating-on-new-york-city-trees.html?_r=0