Hi. It’s been almost a week since I posted my last update and a lot has happened since then. “A lot” is actually a major understatement. Monday night was the most terrifying night of my life. While our ceiling never leaked (as we fully expected it to) and our building was not damaged, the wind and the creaking of the building and the loss of power was incredibly intense and at the time, I couldn’t believe that our windows could withstand the more than 10 hours of pounding that they took.
All that said, Woody and I are truly lucky. While we lost power and only just got back to our apartment earlier today after leaving Wednesday morning, we only lost power and the food in our fridge. And we had a warm, safe and welcoming place to stay with family friends, with several other offers as well.
We’ve all seen a LOT of pictures the last few days, so while I have several, I’m not going to share them here. We can see them on the news.
On Tuesday we made our way down the 24 flights of stairs, with flashlights in hand, to survey the damage in our neighborhood. It was bad. Still today as we walked around earlier it’s bad. While the electricity is back on in much of the neighborhood, there are still a ton of crews working hard to pump water out of building basements, to pull the cars out of the flooded underground parking garage – which we can see from our window – and a LOT of cleaning and rebuilding to do. A lot of buildings near the water have yellow stickers declaring them unable to be inhabited. But there are a lot of businesses opening up or getting ready to open. A few places on Stone Street are opening tonight so we’re heading over there in a bit to find some dinner.
Tomorrow Woody and I are planning to join the New Amsterdam Market in the South Street Seaport cleanup effort they are organizing. It’s really sad what’s happened to the small, locally owned businesses. As the restaurants and stores re-open, we’ll be sure to patronize them. Our community needs support and we’ll do what we can.
It’s great hearing how so many people have mobilized all over the region. I’ve felt incredibly torn the last few days wanting to volunteer but having to go to work and also because we didn’t have our life back together quite yet. Now, I am ready to pitch in.
After emptying out our fridge right when we got home, we were thoroughly surprised and thankful to find this farm stand a few blocks away. No power in the building next to it, but they were out selling fruit and veggies!
As this is a running blog you might be wondering about my thoughts on the NYC Marathon cancellation. I’m not going to get into that debacle now. I’m just going to be happy we’re home and leave that to another time. If you can, please help out the people in this region who have lost so much.
To support those affected by Sandy in New York City, check out this website – info on volunteering for those in the area and how you can help if you’re not:
Come to South Street Seaport tomorrow (Sunday) at noon. For more info, go here:
Donate to the Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Aid Fund:
Support food banks:
- New Jersey - http://www.foodbankmoc.org/
- NYC - http://www.cityharvest.org/
Help mothers and children through these organizations:
Animals have been affected as well:
For even more ways to help, go HERE
If you know of other organizations, please leave the info in a comment below!
2 comments:
Glad you guys made it through safely!
Thanks Michelle!
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