Nothing could have prepared us for this.
Two weeks ago, "Superstorm" Sandy crashed down on the northeast, hitting the tri-state area (New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut) especially hard. We dealt with a hurricane last year (Irene in August), and while it wasn't fun, it was nothing like this. Our power was out for just over a day, and it caused some downed tree limbs in our neighborhood. But, Sandy wasn't an ordinary hurricane. Unlike Irene, she didn't make landfall before hitting our area, so she was strong. But she was also mixed with a winter storm, the jet stream and high tide. Superstorm, indeed.
While we had our evacuation bags packed, we hunkered down and rode out the storm at home. (Our house is not in a flood zone, so our town did not issue an evacuation order.) Sunday began with some wind and rain. Monday really brought the power of the storm. Our power went out around 4:30 pm on Monday afternoon. All of us slept downstairs as we heard the wind whistling and the crash of trees and limbs. By around 1:00 am on Monday, the worst of the storm had passed through, so Tuesday morning found many folks in our neighborhood out and about, checking on neighbors and surveying Sandy's aftermath.
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| The end of our block. (There is a car under the downed limbs on the right.) |
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| Our babysitter's car was crushed under this tree... |
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Our brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house,
which also experienced damage to the roof and chimney on the back side of the house. |
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Do you see the person on the right side of this photo, in the navy coat?
Look how small she is compared to the uprooted tree roots... |
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| Another downed tree at the end of our block. |
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This tree went through the home's front entryway.
(Thankfully, everyone inside was okay.) |
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| Another downed tree that took out the power lines. |
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| An uprooted tree around the corner from our house. |
All this devastation in the neighborhood, and this was our front lawn.
That's right - one tree limb, which bent our gutter, but caused no real damage to our home, cars, or property. I remember standing in our front lawn, unable to process how incredibly fortunate we were. Giant trees had been uprooted all around our neighborhood, and yet,
this was it at our house. Our property was fine, but more importantly,
we were fine. My family was safe, thank God. Walking around the neighborhood, I saw neighbors checking on neighbors and heard the good news that our neighbors were fine, too.
I know that our area was extremely lucky - our neighborhood had no flooding and power was restored to houses fairly quickly. (Our power was back on Friday, four days after it went out, with power restored to most other parts of our neighborhood within 7-8 days after the storm.) Since we were without power, on Wednesday morning, I took the kids and drove up to my mom's house. (Proof that you are never too old to need your mother. She allowed the kids and I to invade her house on less than a day's notice for what would be an indeterminate amount of time. After being frightened by the storm, Abby and Zach loved our "vacation" to Grandma's house!)
On our way upstate, I passed no fewer than a dozen convoys of utility trucks headed towards the tri-state area. Each time I'd see one, I would point it out to Abby and tell her how fortunate we were to have people who were willing to help us. (On our way back to Long Island, we passed several convoys returning upstate, including a group of three trucks flying the Canadian flag.)
The kids and I drove back yesterday, after almost two weeks upstate. Long Island (and the other parts of the tri-state area recovering from the storm) is still feeling Sandy's after-effects. Cut up trees and limbs sit by the side of the road, or in some cases, in the road. Utility crews still work hard to restore power and other services to homes. Gas lines are still long (though not as bad as they were immediately after the storm).
And yet, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude as I pulled into our driveway yesterday. I saw the lights on in our home and neighborhood. I saw our mums returned to our front steps. I saw Abby run into the waiting arms of her papa, whom we'd all missed so much. (Carey was expected at work whenever power was restored to his office, so he did not come upstate with us.) I returned to my home, a privilege that many people will not be afforded after this storm. We're doing what we can, donating clothing, food, and our time to help those who were not so fortunate. If you're able, won't you consider doing the same? ABC news has a
list of organizations who are accepting donations to help those hit hardest by the storm. (This includes donating blood to assist with the blood shortages that resulted from so many blood drives being cancelled.) Did you know you can text the word "Redcross" to 90999 to make a $10 donation? So please, help out in whatever way you can, whether by a monetary donation, a donation of food or supplies, or by raising up those affected in your prayers.
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