Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy

Today is October 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy hit us last night. We lost power about 8 p.m. Mike went to bed early but I stayed up and did some crocheting by lantern, plus I played on my DS and with my phone. I also texted back and forth with Katherine for a bit--more on that later.

I kept hearing noises all night, other than the heavy rain and wind, but there was no telling in the dark what was going on. We woke up this morning to find part of the fence in the backyard down, and a tree broken and half-hanging into the neighbor’s yard. Mike went over there later with a chainsaw to help cut it down.

I am trying to keep busy with my crafts and crochet, as well as my puzzle book. I wish I had though to charge my DS, which is about to run out of power. So is the computer so I may not be able to continue my story for a while. Mike is saying it could be a week before power comes back on. Nobody has any in the area, not even stores. Most are using generators, or working by daylight only.

Back to Katherine: she had to do an overnight shift at her store because a manager must be on duty in case the power goes out. First of all, she had to head out there during the worst of the storm. As she was going down a street near our home, a tree fell down right in front of her! Not only that, but a woman had just driven her car past that spot a moment before. The tree fell

RIGHT HERE IS WHERE WE LOST POWER, ABOUT 8 Monday Night. I copied and pasted the above. The story continues:

 Anyway, that big tree fell right between the two cars. Thank God my daughter, and that unknown woman, were okay!
All night, the wind blew up to 100 mph. I kept hearing explosions--transformers going as telephone poles snapped in half. 
For all the horrors, there are other things to Thank God for, at least as far as our neighborhood:

We only lost part of our fence, easily fixed, as well as power.
Two massive trees fell to either side of my neighbor Tony's house, just missing it. It is a small place that would easily have been crushed--these things had eight-foot wide root bases.

Nobody I know personally was hurt or killed. My bil and his family are fine, even though they live on the South Shore. The flooding missed them by a few blocks!




Now for the bad stuff:
A million plus people without electricity--but the crews are working hard to fix this.
People are panicking about being able to get gas, and lines can be 50+ cars long. (Mike was lucky enough to hit a station just as it opened, so he has gas for both his car and the generator.)
The South Shore is a mess, many have lost their homes. I can live without hot water and electricity when I think that's all I have lost!
You don't even want to know about lower Manhattan and New Jersey. It's a massive, tragic disaster.
Some lost their lives, but I don't know the count. It doesn't matter, numbers are just numbers. These are human beings that are gone now.

Better news:
I was worried about Katherine being alone in her store, but three workers were there, too. I found out later that it is against company policy for anyone to be alone, so her other manager would have had to join her. Her store didn't lose power until the next morning, when she was leaving. She stayed to help. Believe me, I was glad when she got home.
Our nice  neighbors brought us coffee and let us use their wi-fi! That way, Mike was able to do some of his office work. I'm writing this thanks to them. Mike offered that they  (and our next-door neighbor) can take a hot shower here if they want.
My bil gave us a genny to use. It only lights up half the house, but we can watch DVDs and heat the place up.
Truth be told, I like this just a tiny bit. Not the scary, tragic parts. But the 'not being able to go anywhere anyway' part that gives me the excuse to watch movies and crochet! And it is fun to be innovative. We used the barbecue to cook and to heat water for coffee. Mike had a pot today. I didn't want any oatmeal or coffee (I'd already had breakfast) but I didn't want to waste the hot water. So I wrapped the pot in some insulated batting that I usually use for making potholders. I covered this with a bigger pot. And you know, I was actually able to make ramen soup for lunch? It's amazing what we can do. Sad as I am for those who lost almost everything, I know most of them will find a way to get on with life!