The news kept telling us that you were going to hit hard on the East Coast. Living here, we do not hear the word "hurricane" quite too often. In fact, very few storms have ever hit the Tri-State area. About a year before Hurricane Irene effected very few people, leaving people unprepared for what was going to happen next.
Its now October 28th, 2012 and Andrew Cuomo has just declared a statewide state of emergency. Of course people pilled in the store grabbing food, water, you name it. Although people did take this seriously, there were many who ignored a lot of the warnings. Living close to the water, every time a hurricane or tropical storm approach the Island, we are told to evacuate our home. This situation is kind of like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. We have been told several times to evacuate, yet nothing happens except for this one time. My friends who live on the water took matters seriously and left their homes, but for someone like me who lives about a mile from the bay, my family didn't think it was necessary to leave.
It is now October 29th, 2012 and the wind is starting to pick up. Outside the weather looks pretty gloomy, but nothing different from before. The air has kind of an eerie feel to it. For the majority of the day, nothing happened. It just a little windy outside. Then hit 7 pm when my life was about to change right in front of me.
One by one, everything around me started to shut down. First it was the lights and then the winds picked up a little speed. I glanced out the window for a brief moment and saw the water coming down the street. We were all shocked because we live far from the water, but in this moment we were so close.
The water slowly began to rise. Within minutes, the water went from one inch to about three feet. It was happening so fast and yet we were not prepared for what was going to happen next. I watched out the window and the water rose about each step towards my door way. At this point the basement was half flooded and our backyard was becoming a swimming pool. The water kept rising and rising and yet it finally stopped at the most perfect moment. From the outside, the water stopped right in front of my door and from the inside, it stopped at the very last step of my basement. In total, the water missed about six inches from our first floor.
As the water rose, we were moving everything and anything that could be saved towards the second floor. One can never anticipate how much of an effect this can have on someone but this very hurricane changed my life.
Its now the next morning October 30th, 2012 and the storm has finally come to an end. Unfortunately, our cars were destroyed from the storm, leaving us stranded and no where to go. We could not stay in the house either because the gas tank was shot during the storm and conditions were not stable enough.
My entire family including the dog relocated to my grandma's house, which is more inland from where I was living. This essentially became my home for the next two weeks. Living in a home that wasn't mine felt super strange and distant, but I had to deal with it because where else was I going to go?
Being displaced from your home is the worse feeling in the world, yet it teaches you so much. I have become a stronger person and realized to never take any situation for granted. Most people will never experience a hurricane in their life and I hope no one has to go through nearly half the things my family and I went through. The anxiety and unanticipated future frighted many people within the Tri-State area. Many people were fortunate enough to only lose power and a couple of days without school . Then there were a handful who, without a doubt, became a different person after this storm. Going through a hurricane is one of the most traumatic things anyone could go through .
It is now four years years after Hurricane Sandy hit and to this day the thought of it still gives me the chills. As I write this, i think back to the three days of pure anxiousness. I am grateful that my family and i made it out of our home safe and sound. For those who were not as fortunate, we remember them here today . We remember for those who lost everything that they owned. We will never forget Hurricane Sandy and how it changed the lifes of many people. R.I.P to those who passed away during the storm.
Hurricane Sandy : October 22, 2012 -Novemeber 2, 2012
