Hurricane Sandy - Part 1

This was the scene outside of my nephew's house with trees blocking both

sides of the street creating a virtual prison with no way out of his driveway. 

One of the fallen trees was kissing his  living room and office windows 

scratching at them as the wind continues its Sandy dance. 

I flew to New York two days before Hurricane Sandy to visit my sisters, enjoy what I could in a short visit to New York, and finally to catch a Crystal Cruise across the Panama Canal.  I had no idea what was waiting for me when I arrived.  Fortunately, the hotel chosen to stay at wasn’t very much a target for the wrath of Sandy, although there were some tense moments when earth-shaking winds were felt pulsating and heard thumping the window. 

I was worried enough to venture out during the worst part of the escalating storm to check on my sister’s car that she kindly lent me.  Indeed, many cars were dented or destroyed by the mighty winds of the storm that was randomly tossing cars and upending and decapitating trees willfully and without shame.  Trees, cars and rooftops were strewn together mercilessly in every conceivable direction.  I was worried that I would be added to the mix as the impulsive gusts of wind lifted me off the ground as I searched the parking lot.  It was both frightening and distressing to witness gigantic hundred-year-old trees with beautiful canopies that were stretching to the sky on the day prior to Sandy ripped from the earth and hurled into yards, piercing through rooftops, bisecting streets, crushing automobiles……and sometimes people.

Two days after the storm, 10 deaths were reported in New York alone, of the 110 and rising numbers from the US and Caribbean, 20 billion in damages and 8+ million people without electricity.   Indeed, the east coast is cluttered with the highest conceivable concentration of Americans, exposing and predisposing them to nature’s devastation.  It was difficult to avoid sitting glued to the TV and watching the hurricane unfold.  Only problem was that only those not affected could afford the luxury.  With so many homes out of electricity, those most affected and in greatest need of help were the least informed.  Their homes under water or engulfed in flames, their roofs ripped from their seams, coastal communities were left in shock, not knowing what to do or where to turn.  And this was just the beginning of their predicament.

One person died in bed when a tree went through his apartment, two drowned, one woman died when she stepped into a puddle near a live electrical wire, a couple were crushed by a falling tree.  Some deaths were reported after the storm’s loss of electricity blacked out stoplights, which predictably prompted New York drivers to drive like maniacs, recklessly ignoring common sense precaution. Some deaths were senseless, some by chance, some by fate, and some were unnecessary and others were preventable.

Several accounts of homes being looted during the storm that were left vacant during the evacuation were reported.  Other community members, refusing to evacuate, became trapped and called for help, leading to injury and death of rescuers; leaving rescuers trapped just like the victims they were there to save.

The hotel we stayed at lost electricity the day of the storm like most other hotels, businesses and homes. We had at least a generator that kept the hall and lobby lights on.  Other hotels were not so lucky.  One Korean couple found an electrical outlet that was charged by the generator.  From that moment, the outlet became the alter and meeting place for the hotel guests who hovered around charging their phones, computers and other accessories while viewing channel 7 or 12 streaming news on portable computers when available as well as ipads, iphones and other small screened devices.  

Sadly, as most of the guests in the hotel were escaping costal communities that were evacuated, what they witnessed on these devices was the dissolution of their community and incredibly, sometimes the cameras would role to their streets and homes.  It was indeed heartbreaking to sit there with these people, helpless, weakened but not entirely broken, seeing their lives unravel before their eyes, waiting patiently until they could return to whatever was left of their homes with ambivalent anticipation.  Indeed, I felt very guilty and out of place, almost like a voyeur, witnessing their misery, while I was anticipating escaping most of Sandy’s rage in a few days when the Cruise ship arrives to rescue us.  Little did I realize what was in store for me…….and the appreciation that no one would entirely escape the fury of super hurricane Sandy.