This was last year, when Irene hit. (by my friend's neighborhood in NJ)
My parents were at a dude ranch in Colorado and I was staying in their apartment (in flux still from my Hawaii trip.) My brother stayed with me at night. While he was working, it was up to me to move all of my parents essential items from their furnished basement, drag furniture to a higher location (they lived by a river at the time...and they were on the first floor), go grocery shopping and make sure I had flashlights, batteries, cash and gas for the car.
This was me, prepping for my first hurricane.
By myself.
Sandy is supposed to be much worse, combining three storms together. It's also hitting NJ directly, something Irene did not do. But this time also feels easier. For one thing, I'm staying with my parents this time and it's nice to feel that comfort of family as you batten down the hatches. For another, they no longer live by a river, but inland towards Philly. (I drove an hour west from where I live) It was also nice to know that buying supplies was not entirely up to me this time around. That was a good thing, because by the time I wandered into the local Stop and Shop, this is what the scene looked like:
Good thing the parental unit planned ahead eh?
Meanwhile, by Seaside Heights, I found this photo sent in by a viewer to our local news. A part of the boardwalk broke off and has floated away. (And Sandy is still 300 miles off shore.)
I remember how disappointed everyone here was that windows didn't blow out and the power stayed on. Mostly people were just mad at Bloomberg. Well New York, this is what happens when you complain too much.
ReplyDeleteSeriously! And honestly, to all those "Irene was no big deal" naysayers, it really depended where you were in the tri-state area. My brother got nothing, (power was on and everything). For me, transformers blew up and we didn't have power for days.
DeleteStay safe! I live on the Gulf Coast, so hurricanes are quite the common occurrence. Buy lots of beer and have a hurricane party! Hope you don't lose water or power. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Allie! We have a liquor cabinet that I can crack open at some point. (I think what scares people is that the northern east coast is really not prepared for hurricanes in my opinion) But I'll be having that hurricane party! So far we haven't lost power. My brother has though, so I have a feeling we're next.
DeleteNJ got it bad! Are you ok out there Katie?
ReplyDeleteHi Hayley!
DeleteWe got very, very, very, VERY lucky. By the grace of God. The damage in surrounding areas is catastrophic, but our little bubble is well. We got a few brief blackouts among the howling winds, downed trees up the road and downed lamp posts in my dad's complex. Most of the major highways are shutdown, so we can't go anywhere, but we have power. The only thing we don't have is cable and Internet, but I'll take it.
How are you and the fam?
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