Creatures Caves

Let me start off by expressing how lucky and fortunate we have been here compared to thousands of others. It was a very scary experience. 6 days without power was an inconvenience, but not life threatening. Our house suffered minimal damage and everyone is safe. I have a lot of family living in the hardest hit coastal areas; while the damage is extensive, everyone is uninjured and grateful to still have a roof over their heads.

I spent Monday (10/29) afternoon watching Hurricane Sandy pummel the Jersey shore while compulsively clicking my browser's refresh button. In addition to following the ever-changing storm updates, I monitored the status in New Brunswick and Rutgers class cancellations in hopes that my younger sister would decide to come home before it was too late. By this time it had been announced that NJ transit would be shutting down at 4pm and NYC transit system would stop running at 7pm. Bloomberg had declared a mandatory evacuation for Zone A and from from the maps I viewed, my younger brother lived in what could either be Zone A or B. My parents had left for Vancouver, Canada the morning before. I was a nervous freaking mess alone at home with every television station broadcasting updates for the impending "worst case scenario" that this "record breaking, once in a century" storm headed our way. After a lot of convincing (and confirmation that classes were being canceled), my sister came home. My brother stayed in NY--said he would be fine.

At this point I just wanted to get the storm over with. The wind had been increasing all day, but it wasn't very impressive. The power went out at 5:04. Everywhere. All 39.2 sq miles of our town was blacked out. I learned later that the power company had shut everything down at once. If they hadn't I am sure the damage would have been much greater.

So the power went out just before it started getting dark. My sister and I had our emergency lighting ready and electronic devices charged. It was actually pretty relaxing as we sat there reading on our kindles and munching on cashews. As the wind picked up we debated whether or not we should head down to the basement. It really wasn't so bad, so we figured if it got bad enough that we would need to be sheltered in the basement, we would know. The terror started around 7:30. Our 4 month old kitten was lounging on the back of a chair looking out the window. I got a weird feeling and brought her over to sit on my lap. Less than 2 minutes later, I heard the most horrifying sound of my life. Immediately, without any discussion we rushed into the basement. It sounded like a freight train was going to crash into our home. Initially I thought it was a tornado. NJ is an area that does not experience many of those, but I have heard many times that a tornado sounds like a train. Getting a good cell phone signal in the basement wasn't easy. Once we were able to get a working signal, Verizon and 3G services began to crap out. I asked a friend a few towns over who still had internet connection to look for tornado reports in our area, but there was nothing. After close to 10 minutes of normal (but extremely strong) sounding wind I headed upstairs to check things out. Everything looked normal, but it was so pitch black out that I couldn't see a thing outside. There was also very little rain. It splattered rather than fell. The sound returned...it sounded like a train battling a dinosaur. Seriously. For 5 hours, this sound surrounded us.

As if that isn't scary enough. We had no idea what was going on outside or anywhere else. Cut off from information and unable to make or receive phone calls and text messages. The not-knowing was the worst. If my sister hadn't come home and I had been alone I honestly think I would have had a heart attack--or at least lost consciousness from fear alone. The train sound was replaced by howling wind by 1am. Eventually we fell asleep...though it wasn't very restful. I woke up at 5:30am and peered out the window. Still pitch black outside, but what I could see looked all wrong. I ventured outside and was shocked by the damage. Cell phone service was intermittent for several days. I'd say 1 out of 5 calls or texts would actually go through. My brother never lost power and sent me a few pictures that the news was showing.

Again, we got off easily. Yes, our yard looked like a war-zone, but I can't even compare it to the many towns that were essentially destroyed. Of course, it would be some time before I would find out the extent of Superstorm Sandy's destruction along the coast of NJ and NY.

Most of my friends in town heard trees snapping and falling all night. We didn't hear one crack, though we did hear a big thump when an uprooted tree crashed against the side of the house. The only other noises we heard were the train sound along with wind howling. Oh, and a few gutters being torn off.

Here are a few "morning after" pictures taken of my yard.

uprooted tree #1

I took this picture from a bathroom window on the top floor of my house:

Here is the same tree. It was mere centimeters from bringing down the left side of my house.

My sister's boyfriend came over that morning to cut down the larger branches that were pressing against the side/back of the house. He's a keeper, that's for sure.

This is a picture of my street taken by a neighbor:

Had to drive under this tree in order to get anywhere. It's hard to see the severed wires dangling from the branches.

Many roads in town are still inaccessible.

The tree removal and power company guys have been working their butts off. They deserve a lot more credit than they are being given.

I have a feeling that all of this is nothing compared to what's coming. And I'm not even talking about weather. I'm talking about the impact this type of damage has on society. Civil unrest is growing. Violence is spreading. Looting is getting progressively worse.