In a little over a year, our small family has gone through two big storms. Last year, tropical storm Irene, was a bit intimidating, considering it was our first storm. However, that seemed like nothing, compared to Hurricane Sandy. I was seriously a little freaked out. It was the wind, and the four trees that toppled over outside our building, that really had me alarmed. Before I get ahead of myself, let's back up and start from Sunday afternoon.
We got home late Sunday afternoon. We began our preparations for the hurricane. I checked to make sure we had all the items for our emergency kit. We made sure our mobile phones were charged. We especially, made sure we did not park under a tree. We took out all our garbage. My in-laws walked the dogs. We all had our own list of things that we needed to do. All mass transit in the city was shutting down by 7 p.m. We were advised to stay in our homes. The grocery store across the street was packed with people. The gas stations around Brooklyn had lines curving onto the road. It was serious. Finally, by early evening, we were set. We played the waiting game. I
had the television, set to our local news station, and I sat,
watching coverage of the storm. Sunday night was a quiet night for us.
As soon as I woke up Monday morning, I turned on the news. It was starting to get windy. It is rare to have everyone home on a weekday. We were all spread out in different parts of the apartment. I made sure to have our flashlights, candles, and radio within reach. We looked out our windows, and we could see people still walking around. The chinese take-out, and deli across the street, were still open, as was the grocery store. We wondered how long they would stay open. By early afternoon, the wind really picked up. As Joey and I sat, watching the news, we heard this loud crack and then a thump. We looked out our window, and saw that a tree had fallen. Wow! I had never seen that before. We were a bit surprised. Shortly after, we heard that familiar crack, and knew, another tree went down. Within two hours, we heard two more trees fall. I was a little freaked out by then, but I did my best not to panic. I didn't want to alarm Joey. The trees and wind were starting to frighten him, so we did our best to keep him distracted. Evening came, and the wind was at it's peak. We didn't get as much rain as we thought. We continued to watch the news. We knew it was going to be bad, but we had no idea just how bad it would be. Joey was a trooper. He remained calm, until it was time for bed. He wanted me to lay next to him until he fell asleep. It was nice, having him cuddle up next to me. When it came for me to me falling asleep, it took a while. Hearing the wind shake the windows, scared me. I would jump every time it shuddered. Somehow, I was able to fall asleep.
I awoke the next day and turned on the news. It was unbelievable. I still can not believe the destruction. From our windows, we assessed the damage. During the night, two more trees went down. It was obvious they were not rooted deep enough. We saw people walking around. Seeing that our area was relatively unscathed, Joey, Tony, and I, decided to get some fresh air, and take a walk around the block. There were leaves and branches littering the sidewalk.We saw a few trees had fallen. We also noticed the power was out two blocks away. We were very lucky to still have power.
Later that evening, we decided to get take-out from across the street. I am not sure when they closed on Monday, but they were back up and running by noon, the next day. They are hardworking people. As soon as we got our food, the power went out. We set up our candles and flashlights. Joey went into a panic, but we were able to calm him down. We all made sure to keep our mobile phones charged. However, due to clogged phone lines, my phone was on roam, and ate most of power. It was useless anyway. I didn't have signal and therefore, could not make calls or texts. Thank goodness for our land line. I called my parents and my sister-in-law, Lisa. ( She lives in Newark, NJ. She has been without power and water since Monday. She is okay and is staying with friends) I'll admit, I panicked a little. I was listening to the news, and there was a possibility, we could be without power for a while. I began to store more water, just in case. I told Tony not to use the candles unless we needed to. I went around and unplugged all our appliances. We turned on our radio, and ate our dinner, using flashlights and candles. My in-laws went to bed early. To calm Joey, we played a few round of Chutes and Ladders, and then sent him to bed. He fell asleep right away. It was just Tony and I. We actually had to talk now. Kidding. Ever since Sunday, I challenged Tony to a game of Monopoly. He told me, if we lose power, we will play. The one and probably only perk of losing power, we got to play a game of Monopoly. The power came back on before the night was up. Oh, and Tony won. Rematch!
I kept in touch with family and friends through texts, phone calls, and
Facebook. However, cell phone service was touch and go. I sent text
messages several times, trying to get it to go through. For those of you
who got the same message 3 times or more, you know why. I also had
difficulty making calls. With the power outages, all service were
disrupted. This made contacting friends and family a little difficult. I tried to keep everyone updated. Soon, I would update
my parents, and they would update the rest of my family. Everyone saw
footage on tv, and were a bit concerned. I had to make sure the rest of my family knew we were not in those areas most affected.
First tree down.
Second tree down.
Third tree down.
The day after.
The trees that went down outside our building.
Marine Park Salt Marshes
Found a walking stick. This is along the area that I walk.
Which brings us up to date.
As we all know, this hurricane was devastating. It's very hard to see the destruction it has caused. I am praying for those people who were most affected by the hurricane and my heart goes out to them. It's heartbreaking to see all the areas affected. It's surreal, to see places that you know and have been to, absolutely destroyed. At this point, it's hard to watch the news. I am not glued to the television, like I was, on Monday and Tuesday. It got to be too much. We needed a break. Being cooped up for two days, we needed some fresh air. Today, Wednesday, we stepped out and tried to get back to some sort of normalcy. Joey and I needed it. Since it is Halloween, I dressed him up, and we went trick or treating. Joey had a lot of fun and I am glad he enjoyed it. Afterwards, we came home, and carved some pumpkins. It was a good day and exactly what we needed.
Ready to go trick or treating.
He played with pulp more and lost interest in carving.
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