As you know from my previous post that I had no choice but to stay in my home during Hurricane Sandy. I do live on one of the Barrier Islands in New Jersey that were ordered a mandatory evacuation. My house is on what is considered high land on our island. In the 20 years that I have lived in this house, I have only seen my little street flood once and that was less then an inch of water.
You may have seen many images of the damage and flooding that Sandy so willingly gave to the Jersey Shore. These are my personal pics from outside of my home. They are before (Sunday Oct 28) and during (Monday Oct 30). The during shots are actually before Sandy made landfall. They were taken during our morning high tide, at around 9:30 in the morning. You may not really be able to tell, but this water actually had a current, a fast current.
Before
During
Before
During
You can see that the water was an inch away from flooding my porch, next step was into my home. I had several panic attacks during the day. Did I do the right thing? Should I have found a way to get off of this island. Should I have found a place to stay for my daughter, my furbabies and myself? The more I thought about it, the more I knew that I had no choice and that God's will would be done. Mind you I didn't just sit back and do nothing. From the moment after I took these pics, I knew I had to prepare my first floor. I created 'sand bags' from water soaked blankets inside of trash bags. I raised everything I could have, books on the bottom shelf of the bookself, photos from the bottom cabinets of the buffet, everything and anything on the floor. I also took our important documents, birth certificates, passports, flood insurance paperwork, utility bills and medications and put them all into a water proof tupperware container. I 'sealed' all my lower outlets by putting saran wrap over them and taping all 4 sides so that there was no way for water to get to them and cause a short leading to a fire. Started to bring our food and water upstairs. During all of this, and more panic attacks, I talked to friends and family on facebook. Those who stayed on the island as well as those who didn't. More then anything I prayed!
What was my final outcome?? Nothing less then a true MIRACLE. The high tide during Sandy never got any higher to the high tide we had that morning. Water never came into my house. I never lost power, cable, internet or water.
Many of my friends and neighbors did have water damage, did loose power, and did have damage to the exterior of their home. Some who live right off of our bay, lost everything. All in all, we were spared the wrath of that which is named Sandy. To the north of us there was so much more devastation
Brick NJ (where my cousin lives ~~ she lost power, still has no power, but otherwise fine)
We are Jersey Strong. We will unite to help our neighbors. Feed them, clothe them, and rebuild with them.
What have I learned from all of this? I learned to NEVER take anything for granted! Always show those you love just how much you love them. Live the life that you have been given with love, charity, faith and enjoyment. You never know what can happen when you blink your eyes.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.
No comments:
Post a Comment