Lining up in Brooklyn Thursday for the bus to Manhattan. Photo: NYPost
FORTUNE — I probably won’t make it to Apple’s (AAPL) flagship Fifth Avenue store Friday for the launch of the iPad mini.
Me and a lot of other people.
Three days after Hurricane Sandy swamped much the U.S. eastern seaboard, there is no power in New York City below 34th Street, no direct subway trains to Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens, no PATH service from New Jersey and no Staten Island ferry.
Three of the four commuter tunnels into Manhattan are full of water. Cars trying to drive across the bridges with fewer than three riders are being stopped on the entry ramps. The line for buses at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center Thursday morning was five deep and wrapped around three city blocks.
All three major airports — JFK, Newark and Laguadia — were closed for three days and are still trying to make up for thousands of cancelled flights.
The launch of Apple’s new iPad is the least of the city’s problems.
UPDATE: Peter Cohen tweets: “Steve Jobs never would have let this happen.”
