So it's been a while since "Frankenstorm" aka Hurricane Sandy actually hit the east coast. Like every hurricane that heads towards the east coast Dan and I have our stomach in knots sitting in the middle of a landlocked central state. Our families live on the coast in North Carolina and Long Island. Both families actually live right on the water as well. So we tend to try and watch any storm that will be a threat closely. Sandy I think actually may have made me sick with worry.
So last week at about this exact time Sandy was tearing up the Outer Banks where my family and close friends live. Luckily however my loved ones were for the most part spared from major or life changing damage. Flooding did occur worse in some areas then it has ever before along the beach side and thank goodness the sound didn't have the major flooding like Irene did last year. Overall people were very fortunate. The Outer Banks is like old salt at taking on hurricanes and dealing with the aftermath. Then Sandy gained more strength and headed north. Not a good sign!
Last Monday my Dad was working a 24 hour shift at his fire department in Fairfax, VA. His words (and being so close to retirement) were "Thank God this better be my last hurricane to deal with!". Needless to say he was up and working those entire 24 hours. Trees were down every where, power lines looked like a cat that played in a ball of yarn. Fires galore. Car accidents. Northern VA was as expected a mess. At least they were prepared. Some lost power for a day or two but that is manageable.
Then Monday night and into Tuesday Sandy decided to make landfall into NJ. Her strength was also tearing up the south side of Long Island and lower Manhattan pretty badly. Dan's mother lives on the water front on the south side of Long Island. Dan and I felt so helpless watching his hometown being swallowed by Sandy. My family in NC had dodged the bullet. We weren't going to be able to say the same for NY.
Homes in Long Island aren't built the same as what most of coastal NC looks like. Most homes are ground level, some have basements and just older homes. There are big trees around as well. Long Island also just normally doesn't get hit by a hurricane. Sometimes remnants of a tropical storm, but not hurricanes.There are a few more low lying areas that are more accustomed to flooding just from large amounts of rain. No one was prepared for what actually happened I don't think. The worst case scenario actually happened all the way from coastal NJ through NY. Everyone always believes the weather anchors on TV always hype up a storm too much. What they said this time for in LI actually happened. The storm surge raged and thrashed anywhere near the water.
I don't think Dan nor I slept much that night, we were fearing the worst for my mother n laws house. Earlier that day my mother n law Mary decided to take her dog Salty and go stay at a friends house away from the water. It was a very wise decision. You hate to leave your home but you have to do what is safest. Finally later the next day Mary was able to get to her home. We had already heard her neighborhood had flooded pretty badly. She got to her house and to every one's amazement water did not go in the house. As Mary said herself "Lucky doesn't ever begin to describe it...", how her home was spared is nothing short of a miracle. She lives on a canal that is in her backyard. She has lived in that house since the mid 90's and the water has never come over the bulk head. Apparently the water was just about up to the back door of her ground level home during the worst part of the flooding. There is another canal that goes further up into her neighborhood down the street from the front of her house....that water came up and got into her garage, but again not into the main part of the house. No one even thought about that even happening. We were all only concerned about the water from the back. Most of the homes in the neighborhood that are waterfront are destroyed. It has been a week now of no power and they are expecting another week powerless. I have to give Mary a lot of credit, I would be beyond fed up by now with no power and temperatures starting to dip below freezing at night. She has kept her composure. She says every time she starts to get frustrated she just looks around and is so thankful her home was spared. Family friends that live in the same town on the water had nearly 4 feet of water inside their home. Another close family friends beach house is completely gone. Mary is a school teacher and already they have missed a full week of school. Today they are finding out what will be happening with getting classes up and going again.
I know how heartbreaking it was for me to watch my home town get beaten up by Irene last year. I know how helpless I felt being so far away. I had all of those emotions times a 100 watching my husband feel those same emotions worrying mostly about his own mother and the rest of his family and friends. I had never seen that kind of worry and fear in my husbands eyes before. We couldn't just call my mother n law. Land lines were/are still down in some areas and the cell towers were down or so bombarded with calls that you couldn't get a call through. With no power there is obviously no internet All we could do is watch their local news online from here or watch the national news. I'm not sure which was worse, watching and seeing the damage as it was happening or not knowing what was going on.
There are a lot of reasons why we are so eager to move back closer to our home towns.....this is one of the biggest reasons. We desperately want to be closer in case of an emergency! It is torture watching terrible things happen from so far away to our loved ones and friends. Even though we physically can not be there to help rebuild or clean up, know that we really wish we were and are thinking and praying for the best outcomes for everyone affected by this horrible storm.
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