Hurricane Sandy: The Storm that Shut Down New York City

So, if you haven’t heard already, Hurricane Sandy struck Manhattan and certainly left her mark. Whilst most of mid-uptown has been left unharmed, lower Manhattan and part of the boroughs have incurred substantial damage. Down trees, flooding, loss of power….it’s a disaster. Literally. I unfortunately am not one of the fortunate ones and found myself within the area affected by Sandy’s wrath…but first, let’s travel back in time as I tell you of the events leading up to Sandy.

This past weekend, I was home in New Jersey. Despite the warnings of the impending “Frankenstorm,” my family rather foolishly did not pay heed to Gov. Chris Christie’s warnings. Whereas other people were stocking up on foods/supplies and protecting their homes, my family and I ate, carved pumpkins, and just relaxed. We played the complacent card. (To be fair, we still had lots of water from Irene, plenty of food, and flashlights/batteries). Why did we not prepare like others? Because my father was convinced this was all hype and that like Irene, Sandy would prove a dud --- just an intense rainy day. Boy was he wrong!

Since Manhattan was starting to shut down, in preparation for the storm, my parents drove me back to the city slightly earlier than usual, on Sunday evening. Despite my dad’s lax attitude, being the crazy paranoid person that I am, I stocked up on water and food. I took some flashlights from the house and returned to the city. Even when I got back to the apartment, slightly paranoid, I went to my local grocery to stock up a bit more. Wow. The shelves were so empty. Like, Armageddon empty. I’ve never seen such a sight! Also, the line looped around the entire store, another sight I’d never seen before! Though most stuff was picked over, I still managed to get some goodies that would help me survive the storm…

So, now it is Monday and so far, no storm. New Yorkers have been advised to remain in doors. Public transport is shut down. The city is silent except for the sirens of emergency vehicles. Looking out my window, I wasn’t very impressed. It seemed just like another dark gray rainy day. I even left my window open for most of it! (Needed to circulate warm air of my apt, with cold air outside.) I spent most of the day doing homework, chatting with “M” on the phone, watching the weather, and overall scratching my head. Where was this so-called “Frankenstorm?” Sure, I was delighted that NYU had closed for the day and was hoping for an encore on Tuesday (mostly so I didn't have chemistry lab), but I scratched my head wondering, “where is the hurricane?” Throughout the day, I had also been chatting with my father and again, he staunchly claimed, that Sandy was being overhyped and that in fact, nothing would happen….I wish he had been correct.

studying bio

Around 6 pm or so, the winds started to pick up, forcing me to shut my windows. My electricity was fine and I wasn’t that hungry yet, so I decided to continue with my work. Then the rain got bad and it was pelting against my window. Uh oh… Finally, at around 7:30 ish, I started to get peckish and felt that it was time to start preparing dinner. I chopped up veggies for steaming, began to reheat some sautéed butternut squash, and most importantly, began to prepare my delicious duck breast. Right at 8 pm, as I was about to put the duck breast in the pan…BAM!....I lost electricity…as well as my dinner!

I began to panic a bit. Well, my first reaction involved expletives, but I was quite freaked out. Dad reassured me over and over again that he experienced Hurricane Gloria in Manhattan and lot of foul weather and NYC has never lost power. Living under these pretenses, you can imagine how shocked I was! I immediately called my parents to tell them my situation. They were shocked. The true tragedy was despite the fact that my kitchen is gas, I neglected to purchase matches or a lighter of sorts, so was unable to prepare my dinner. So, at 9 pm, with nothing else to do, I went to sleep.

I woke up hoping that my power was restored, by was sorely disappointed. On the bright side, I slept for about 12 hours, but on the not so bright side…I was still powerless. I spent the morning trying to study biology, but was too distracted by the storm. Let me tell you, being in an apartment alone with no access to the outside world (my cell phone wasn’t working and no access to news), it’s really isolating and scary. I didn’t know how long I’d be powerless for and I didn’t know if or when Sandy would be returning. Also, as I had no matches or electricity, my food selection was minimal. After a couple hours of mulling about in my apartment, I took to the streets to see what was going on.

Wow. It was eerie. There were plenty of people roaming the streets, but it wasn’t the same as the normal New York City hustle and bustle. People seemed a lot more lost, confused, and desperate for information --- like me. My first priority was to get reception on my cell phone so I could call home. Normally, this isn’t a problem, but in the aftermath of Sandy, I had to walk around my neighborhood for at least 30 minutes until I found a spot that had service! Yikes! I told my parents of my plight, and they told me of theirs. It seems a rather large tree branch fell on our home, knocking out one of the skylights in the living room, as well as putting a hole in the roof. Otherwise, damage was minimal. Just a lot of yard clean up.

our yard in NJ

In my desperation to contact the outside world and to learn about Manhattan’s fate, I was blessed with a missed call and voicemail from my best friend E. She was worried about me and hoped that I was ok. I told her that I was without power and did not know how long I would be living in the dark for. She was very fortunate in that Brooklyn did not incur much damage and was fully functional. After much back and forth texting, E very graciously offered to come pick me up and let me stay with her and her mom until power was restored to my apartment. I was so grateful that I almost began to cry tears of joy right then and there on the sidewalk. I ran back to my apartment to gather what I needed and waited for E to come rescue me.

Allow me to take a moment to describe the destruction I witnessed and experienced. Union Square was completely empty and taped off. Lots and lots of down trees. Every single establishment that I walked by (I’d say at least 5 block radius in all directions), was black. There was panic and awe in the streets. Some people were desperately looking for power sources to charge phones, while others took photographs. Traffic lights were down, so hoards of NYPD were directing traffic, while pedestrians covered in suitcases threw themselves into the streets, in an attempt to hail a taxi. Total chaos. After my very long walk around the neighborhood, as well as learning that I would be saved, I returned to my apartment, only to learn that my whole neighborhood was powerless because the Con Ed transformer on 14^th St. blew. Apparently, Con Ed is saying this is the biggest destructive blackout they have ever faced! Supposedly, power will not be restored for 3-4 days…oh brother.

At 3:30 pm, E and her mother arrived at my door, ready to whisk me away from my dark dark dark apartment. I am so grateful to have such an amazing family and best friend living so close. I give them such credit. They braved crazy traffic, remember no signals are working, and panic just to come get me! I will forever be in their debt. The drive was easy, but depressing. So much destruction. All I could think is… “this is New York City…we don’t get hurricanes! What the what?!”

The ride was relatively smooth, despite the lack of traffic signals. We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and for the most part, it was like nothing ever happened. Compared to Lower Manhattan, it seems that E’s neighborhood was relatively untouched by the storm. Life went on as per usual.

When I arrived at E’s house, my first priority was to charge my iPhone, which had run out of battery. Once connected, my next priority was to call my parents and let they know that I was safe in Brooklyn. They were of course pleased beyond belief and equally grateful to E and her family. I also checked my emails and learned that NYU was so badly affected by Sandy that it would close for the ENTIRE week. Classes were scheduled to resume Monday, Nov 5!

The rest of the evening was incredibly pleasant. I carved Halloween pumpkins with E and we just chatted, gossiped, and laughed. I must take a moment to say, E is a master pumpkin carver. She has this amazing chest of knives that she employs in her pumpkin artwork. Very impressive. Also, no matter how intricate a design she selects, she can reproduce is quickly, perfectly, and effortlessly! I’m pretty certain that in the time it took me to carve one pumpkin, E had gotten through two!

E's amazing pumpkin carving set 

my grim reaper pumpkin

delicious Thai food for dinner!

The evening ended with delicious Thai take out and watching our favorite TV show, “Hoarders: Buried Alive.” Don’t ask why E and I love that show. We aren't quite sure why. For some reason, my whole BMC circle, inevitably when we get together, we end up watching any variation of the “Hoarders” serial. Everyone else thinks we are crazy for loving the show so much, but we don’t care! We keep watching anyway!