Hurricane Sandy

On Oct 29, 2012 we started bracing for impact from Hurricane Sandy. We had been watching her approach for days on the weather channel. Some areas were ordered to evacuate, but not our particular community. We made sure we had supplies in case the power went out. We brought up essential items from the basement in case we became flooded. Then it became a waiting game.

This is what our view looked like before Sandy...

And then she started releasing her fury...

For the most part, the boys enjoyed the storm. They thought the wind and waves were cool. We would all go out on the deck and watch the action. But as the storm grew stronger and more ominous, the boys started to realize that something was wrong. They referred to the storm as "spooky", and they were right. As the hours passed, the wind and waves grew stronger. We started to see some water splash up on our lawn...

All we could do was wait and watch...

After high tide, we were hoping the low tide would provide some relief, but the storm was too strong and the waves just kept getting bigger into the evening hours. The lights flickered every once in a while, so we made sure to have our flashlights and candles handy. Thousands of people in the Bronx lost power, but we did not. It really made the difference in weathering this storm in comfort versus fear and anxiety. The boys were able to have lights and watch tv and play their regular games. We cooked supper and all felt normal except for the chaos going on outside.

We even had a boat almost make an entry onto our lawn, but the ocean broke it and it washed down the coast a bit.

We stayed up for most of the night. Watching to see if the water would make its way into the basement level of our house. Waiting to see if any of our windows would be blown in. Waiting to see if the roof would be blown off. But as the hours passed, the winds lost some of their ferocity and the waves started to recede....we went to bed, not knowing what we would wake up to, but figuring that it wasn't going to get worse.

So we woke up and assessed the damage. We were very lucky. We had no personal property loss or damage. So many of our neighbors had it much worse.

The waves did cause major erosion of our yard on the coastal end. About 8 feet of our lawn was swept out to sea. I'm not sure who, how, or when this will get fixed, but if this is all we have to show for Hurricane Sandy, I can't complain.

We are very lucky we didn't have more severe damage. Watching the power of nature up close and personal is very humbling. I hope we don't witness another storm of this magnitude for the duration of our stay here in New York.