Hurricane Sandy Aftermath

We're alive! YAY! The anticipation of the storm was totally stressful, but once it burst upon us, it was a frightening experience and our stress turned to white knuckled panic. Strong sustained winds blew in from the north easterly direction. The eye of the hurricane slammed into my sister's area near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Because we're about 200 miles northeast of her, we received some of the highest winds.

The worst part was that Sandy appeared after darkness had fallen so it was impossible to see the damage being done. When winds are that strong, it's best to stay away from windows, lest the wind breaks through. Usually we run masking tape in crisscross designs so that if the windows do break, the pieces will fall to the floor. Our earlier preparation had been so long and tiring that we forgot to take care of the windows. Fortunately, none of them were damaged. 

I filled up the bathtub about the time I heard the distant freight train sounds of Sandy's winds. The water is used to flush the toilet because we have well water and the pump runs on electricity. If we lose power, we lose the ability to have running water. Thus said, it took me all afternoon to fill up plastic water jugs and fill small stackable food storage containers that I filled with water and froze before the hurricane arrived. 

When one lives in storm areas, one learns little tricks to preserve food in the refrigerator. If the power goes off, the blocks of ice that neatly stack on top of each other, are placed on the top shelf of the refrigerator to extend the amount of time the food will be preserved. A great science lesson we all learned is .... Warm air rises, cool air sinks. 

Meanwhile my husband had huge Rubber Maid garbage pails that he used the garden hose to fill with water. Those were placed in the garage and would be also used to flush toilets. My plastic jugs were labelled "For Washing" and "For Drinking". It's amazing how we take things for granted! Once the power goes off, water becomes precious.

Since we have an electric stove, we'd use the grill to cook. Keeping warm is another challenge. Wear double and triple layers of clothing, thermal socks and fleece blankets. It's unusual for hurricanes to strike this late in the year so we were a little worried about how we'd keep warm..

Amazingly we never lost power, but it's so much better to be prepared.

More to come.... The devastation in New Jersey and Staten Island was shocking...
The people in New Jersey and New York City continue to suffer. The President met with Governor Christi of New Jersey and promised that FEMA would help. That remains to be seen. I pray for those poor people. No electricity, food, water or gas. Why aren't they being helped! it's been too long!