I was extremely fortunate in this terrible storm. I live in Astoria, and the worst thing that happened was a few down trees. I had driven upstate to my parents house in Orange County, NY to help them on Tuesday because they had also lost power. They were without power from Sunday night until Friday morning. The gas lines are extremely long, and it’s nearly impossible to find generators.
My grandmother is also living in a nursing home in Coney Island, who unfortunately was not evacuated. They had lost power during Sunday night, and the Generators failed mid Monday. She was hospitalized to Beth Israel sometime on Wednesday night. Luckily she was fine, I think it was a combination of anxiety that she had been receiving from being within the dark and confined nursing home. Everyone has finally been restored power, and the low lying area’s are being built back up. It’s amazing to see how many New Yorkers are reaching out to help.
I also have a very close family friend who have a summer home in Brick Township, NJ. Their town was completely destroyed by the storm. The infamous bridge connecting the bay area with Tom’s River was completely washed out and destroyed. They were fortunate because of the way their house was constructed. When they had decided to build the house, they put a large brick planter that runs the front facade of the house. This allowed all of the ocean water to be diverted around their house and allowed it to flow into the bay. I found this very neat interactive link showing you before and after. Figured some of you guys would like to check it out. Here are some photos of their neighborhood as well.
