I can't remember how long we were out of power, probably a week. Most of my immediate neighbors opted to move to hotels or who knows, so our house was the only one on the block occupied post-Storm. We heated it with wood, which did not help alot since I suffer from Raynaud's syndrome, which is triggered by cold. So I dressed for outdoors, in.
My husband works for another municipality and he was out each day from the 31st on, through the weekends, working out of an Operations Center in Westbury. His union even helped out in Long Beach two weeks after the storm hit.
We cooked on a grill, so our coffee was instant and our meals from cans or with whatever thawed food we had left.
I tried to flag down a LIPA crew on day 3 but I missed them. I never considered going to a shelter as I did not want to leave the dog. Our son who was then unemployed, did go down the local church and used their power to get warm and online.
I was So thankful when he finally located a deli that was selling real perked coffee near the Fire Department.
The most unusual thing was Halloween. Since our schools were closed, kids came out early. I donate books to deployed military, military families and veterans, through operationpaperback.org. Because I had a lot of children's books, especially Halloween themed, I added them to the goodies and every single one was taken.
Once power returned and our refrigerator and freezer were cleaned out, life got back to normal, somewhat. Our stove shorted out in the middle of the night a few weeks later so we had to replace that. We had no major damage to the house fortunately. It was actually nice not looking at the images on TV during that time. What I saw when we ventured out were so traumatic.
We did eventually lose an evergreen tree on the side of the house. And had to replace fencing in many areas, but we did it ourselves.
It was so sad walking the dog looking at all the evergreens down. I just kept wondering why we couldn't make Sandy Wreaths to sell or give away, but did not try it myself. I had no way to do outreach without the computer.
I think the hardest part for me was knowing how much my husband was working and hearing stories of the difficulties folks were having in other communities. I felt lucky but also stranded, as my immediate neighbors were gone.
I was So thankful when he finally located a deli that was selling real perked coffee near the Fire Department.
The most unusual thing was Halloween. Since our schools were closed, kids came out early. I donate books to deployed military, military families and veterans, through operationpaperback.org. Because I had a lot of children's books, especially Halloween themed, I added them to the goodies and every single one was taken.
Once power returned and our refrigerator and freezer were cleaned out, life got back to normal, somewhat. Our stove shorted out in the middle of the night a few weeks later so we had to replace that. We had no major damage to the house fortunately. It was actually nice not looking at the images on TV during that time. What I saw when we ventured out were so traumatic.
We did eventually lose an evergreen tree on the side of the house. And had to replace fencing in many areas, but we did it ourselves.
It was so sad walking the dog looking at all the evergreens down. I just kept wondering why we couldn't make Sandy Wreaths to sell or give away, but did not try it myself. I had no way to do outreach without the computer.
I think the hardest part for me was knowing how much my husband was working and hearing stories of the difficulties folks were having in other communities. I felt lucky but also stranded, as my immediate neighbors were gone.
After we got power I saw that many libraries on NYC's coast had been destroyed. A friend contacted me about the American Library Association's drive and I shipped books to to NYC library System. They were distributed by the Mobile Units. It saddened me to think of folks without homes and without a good book to read.
I hope I never go through a storm like that again. I was born in Huntington during Hurricane Hazel, and have lived on the Island my whole life. Sandy was traumatic. My condolences to those who lost loved ones or their homes.
In many ways, it rivalled 9/11 as a traumatic event.
Please check out my blog Garden's Gone Wild for a short read on Post-Sandy and our Environment
I hope I never go through a storm like that again. I was born in Huntington during Hurricane Hazel, and have lived on the Island my whole life. Sandy was traumatic. My condolences to those who lost loved ones or their homes.
In many ways, it rivalled 9/11 as a traumatic event.
Please check out my blog Garden's Gone Wild for a short read on Post-Sandy and our Environment
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