Monday, November 5, 2012

Why I Have Been MIA, My Hurricane Sandy Story

5:30pm on Monday, October 29th.

The lights keep flickering as I am watching my homegirl Teresa on Long Island Medium. I sit there on the couch waiting for the inevitable. The house rattles and I am convinced the air conditioning unit in my living room is going to be pelted at my forehead going 90mph.

7:30pm pitch black.

Hurricane Sandy hit and the power was officially gone. I was convinced that maybe I would be without power for 1 day, maybe 2 days tops. On Long Island we rarely get "hurricanes", they usually start out as a hurricane down south but by the time they reach us up here they are down graded to a tropical storm.

Bub was out playing "Captain America" on the fire truck. So I figured I should call him to let him know we lost power and that I was ok.

Except the cell towers were also taken out, so my cell phone was pointless at this point and was now my flashlight.

With nothing else to do I sit at my kitchen window and look outside. I see what I thought was lightning, the sky lit up about 3 times over the course of 20 minutes. I later realized those were transformers on the power lines going up in a blaze of glory.

About 2 hours later a fire truck pulls up to the house.

Bub runs off the truck, comes up stairs and tells me "Babe, it's bad out there"

There is one thing you should know bout bub, he is a "tell it like it is" guy, so for him to say it was bad I knew it was bad.

He had to leave me again to go on more fire calls which consisted of gas leaks, fires, trees down, power lines down, pretty much anything you can think of.

The next morning we drive around the neighborhood, this is what we see all around us.

 Trees uprooted and in the power lines

 Trees taking out cars

This was a side walk.

 a tree down in my parent's back yard, there is bub in the bottom left hand corner cutting it down

Tree taking up the entire block and into more power lines.

So, what I thought would turn into 2 days TOPS with no power turned into 7.

DO YOU HEAR ME? SEVEN.

The first few days were manageable, I laughed in the face of Sandy saying "YOU'LL NEVER BREAK ME!"

But by day 6 she broke me, she broke me hard.

Yes, we had a generator, but the problem was we couldn't run it 24/7. We would run it for a few hours just to keep the fridge cold. We also have an electric stove so cooking food was pretty much non existent. By day #4 we finally found a way to hook it up to the heat because in New York temperatures were rapidly dropping from the 50's, to the 40s and now 30's.

I was worried for this little guy the entire time


you see apparently birds can't be in a climate thats below 50*, so I had get super creative to keep him warm.

I tried filling up chinese food containers with hot water, placing them in a cooler, then putting his cage on top of that so the heat could radiate in.

I tried packing socks full of those hand warmers that skiers use to put in their gloves to keep warm and tie it in the cage where he usually hangs out, but apparently a pink argyle sock hanging in a bird cage looks threatening and birdie bugged the eff out.

It's ok birdie, I'm bugging out too, we are in the same boat buddy.

Things were starting to get really bad starting day 3. Since 90% of long island was with out power that meant that 90% of the gas stations were also out of power.

No power = no pumping of gas

No pumping of gas = no one filling up their generators

Not being able to fill up your generator = people stealing generators from people's backyards in a desperate attempt to get power to their house

People waited hours...HOURS in the hopes that the gas station they were currently waiting in line on had gas to spare. No one can fill up their cars or gas cans to keep their generators running.

People were getting cranky and getting cranky fast. A woman ran over a gas station attendant when she found out there was no more gas for her car, a man stabbed another man at the gas station battling it out for gas, they had to call in the Air National Guard and the Police to "babysit" the gas stations and generators so people could "play nice".

 Driving was also fun. Most traffic lights are out at every intersection so it was an awesome game of "HOLY SH*T I MIGHT DIE RIGHT NOW BUT IM GONNA BOOK IT HARD AND FAST AND PRAY I DON'T GET T-BONED"

The grocery stores are bare, they have zero perishables on hand.

In all my 28 years I never ever would have guessed I would experience ANYTHING like this.

Most of my family is STILL with out power, they are saying they might be with out power for an additional 7-10 days ON TOP OF already not having power for 1 week.

Things are scary right now,  at first I was all like "this is no big deal, just a little storm" but the more time that goes by I am seeing the devastation. It's a hard pill to swallow knowing that the red cross and other organizations are sending aid to a place where I live and call home.

I want to help too, once I get my feet back on the ground I will be selling new items in the shop where the proceeds will go to the Sandy Relief Efforts.

Please, keep us in your thoughts. I just want life to be normal again. I am one of the really lucky ones, things could have been a lot worse.

21 comments:

  1. Oh, Leonora, I'm so sorry. We were super blessed- no damage to our house, and only out of power for 46 hours. Utility workers and linemen like my dad are working 16 hour days, 7 days a week to get power back on. The more pictures I see, the more articles I read, the more I just can't fathom this disaster happening so close to home. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

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  2. I'm glad you are ok and back to having power!! It sounds awful over there. I was so freaked out the entire week leading up to this storm... even though there was only a 50% chance it would actually hit here. I prepped JUST IN CASE by filling up my bathtubs with water, filling up every single container in my cupboard with more water, buying extra pet food and canned stuff... needless to say I ended up just wasting a shit ton of water that day lol. It barely breezed by us.. which I am thankful for! I am glad you were prepared with a generator though!!

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  3. Oh wow... my heart so goes out to you and your family. I hope for a quick return to normal and your continued safety. :\

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  4. oh man. 7 days is so long and to think that someone people still don't have power as it gets colder there... it's heartbreaking to read this and see all the coverage. definitely been praying for all of NY & NJ. :/

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  5. Oh yea been there done that! First went through Hurricane Katrina in 2005 where we lost our house then this past September for Hurricane Isaac it was a mess. We stayed this time because it was only projected to be a Cat 1, but we lost power for 6 days and it was absolutely MISERABLE!!!! And, not to mention 90 degrees outside. I could only stand it for a day. Plus our town just outside of New Orleans got hit worse than expected. It was probably one of the worst experiences ever (after Hurricane Katrina of course). You don't really realize how much of an impact power really has on your day to day and after experiencing it you come to appreciate it so much more. It truly is a luxury that people have come to take for granted. Not to mention hearing transformers blow out every minute during a storm is probably the worst sound and feeling. But, I am like you too. I was more worried about my 3 cats in the crappy conditions then for myself and my boyfriend. I would try to get them as wet as possible because it was super hot and that didn't go over well because cats hate water so it was the opposite for us in terms of cooling off rather than heating up. So my heart goes out to you! Everything you've experienced has happened to us too and it sucks so bad! Will be thinking about you over the next couple of months and probably years because recovery will last a good while. Its been 7 years since Katrina and people in this area are still recovering. Good luck and just stay as positive and patient as you can.

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  6. Wow.. Im so sorry to hear that you have beein going threw! I had been wainting to see a post from you!! Ive read awful stories about the happenings, and Im just so glad to hear you and your family are mostly ok. Everyone is well, and we should be thankful!

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  7. Yikes. I'm sending out great big hugs and lots of warm, cozy thoughts.

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  8. I've been thinking of you. I'm so sad to hear all this. It's been crazy to hear/see stories of all the destruction Sandy caused and the aftermath. Praying for a speedy recovery of electricity and a quicker than expected return to normalcy for you and many others!

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  9. oh my gosh I can't believe people are stabbing each other!
    stay strong and stay safe!

    xo the egg out west.

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  10. So glad you're okay! Stay strong and I'm keeping everybody in my thoughts and prayers!

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  11. So happy to hear that you were okay. We lost power at 4pm on Monday and we still don't have power. We live near the Connetquot River in Oakdale and our street was flooded on Monday night and even a little on Tuesday. The water came 6 feet up our driveway and I was afraid I would wake up to find my car underwater. Luckily I didn't.

    And my beach is gone. If you know anything about me at all, you know that I practically LIVE on Robert Moses Field 5 all summer and now I don't have that. Who knows when it'll be rebuilt?

    I'm just so sad.

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  12. So glad to hear you are ok. All of this devastation is so sad. SO many people are struggling right now and my heart goes out to all of you on the east coast. thinking of you friend....and hoping that your life goes back to normal as soon as possible. xoxo

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  13. Hey leonora,

    So glad to here you are safe! Hope and pray things continue to get better for you! I was out of power for 5 days but luckily the Gentleman lives in williamsburg where things were pretty much carrying on like normal so I booked it there. Leaving my place on 24th st on tuesday to see droves of people heading north on foot in search of power was a pretty eerie sight.

    Let me know if there's anything I can do to help!

    -amy

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  14. Glad to hear you are okay. Stay safex

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  15. Oh lady! Been thinking of you. So glad to hear you have not received power and can now flush your toilet! (not sure why that was my first thought but it was). Happy all is well and I will continue to think about your family and all other relief efforts!

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  16. I'm on Long Island too! Luckily we didn't loose power in our apt complex, but this whole gas thing is crazy...and it's getting super cold. I feel terrible for the people still without power...or homes even! Can't believe it happened here where we never get anything bad like this.

    I am setting up an auction where all funds will be donated to help if you want to join in. :) Here's the sign up form: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?pli=1&formkey=dEozbXNqYV9BSzFZdkdweW9KMkVFWFE6MQ#gid=0

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  17. OH MY WORD. I hope you regained power tonight, girl. THINKING OF YOU!!!

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  18. I'm so glad to hear that you are okay. I can't imagine all that you've been going through! I've been thinking about you and pray that you, your family and friends all remain safe.

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  19. I am so glad to hear that you are safe and sound!!! Lots of love to you friend!! xoxox

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  20. I'm behind on my blog reading so I just got to this post but aahhhhh I'm so glad you are ok!!!! xoxoxoxox JA

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