Hurricane Sandy

We have been very blessed this last week. Hurricane Sandy hit New York City late Monday night (Oct 29th). There wasn't a lot of buzz about it really until the day before it hit us. Then the warnings went out to stock up on food, water and emergency supplies and the subway system was shut down. Luckily, I had gone grocery shopping the Friday before, so we were all set on groceries so didn't have to worry. There wasn't a huge run on the stores like there was during Irene. Most of the stores were out of water, but that was about it. So if we had waited, it wouldn't have been that big of a problem.

Brian stayed home from work on Monday because the subways were closed. It rained on and off that day and was windy but nothing out of the ordinary. That night the winds and rains picked up. The wind was pretty bad, but again we didn't get all that much rain. We never lost power or internet.

We were cuddled in our nice warm apartment watching the news that night. It was crazy to watch southern Manhattan and the areas along the edges of the rivers become flooded. Some areas were flooded with 13 feet of water! It was almost as if it was happening somewhere far away from us, because we were just fine, except for the noisy wind.

We took a walk outside the next afternoon, once the rain had stopped and the winds had died down. After seeing the southern half of Manhattan without power, streets and neighborhoods flooded with water, homes burned down from the fires and other horrible damage on the news, we were very grateful for the state of our neighborhood. The sidewalks were covered with leaves and the occasional branch. A few trees were down, one being only a block from our apartment. We only found one street taped off because of a fallen tree.

Most of the leaves and fallen trees were cleared up within a day or two. The subways were closed all week, with a few lines put back into operation Thursday and Friday. Our main subway line, the 7 train didn't start up again until the Saturday afterward. Brian's office building was without power until Saturday morning. He stayed home all week with me, which was wonderful. Although we both worked online everyday, it was nice to have a slow week at home.

We fell very blessed that we got off so easy. Our LDS stake sent volunteers out to the Rockaways today to help with some cleanup. Brian and I were unable to attend for various reasons, but it is wonderful to see help and service being given to those in need so quickly. We are praying for those that lost loved ones and whose property was damaged during the hurricane. The cleanup effort will be ongoing for some time and we will help when and where we can.