Well, it's been a week since Hurricane Sandy hit. About a week ago at this time, in fact, it was really at it's peak strength, and about to finally die down a bit.
In fact, I don't think this storm lasted as long as they were saying - I remember projections of up to three days, and most seemed to agree that it would last at least two. Yet, it started later than expected on Monday (no rain or strong winds on Sunday, like the initial projections suggested), and went into the very earliest hours of Tuesday, before more or less dying down.
By daybreak, it was over. At least, that is, the storm.
The recovery from the storm, on the other hand, is a different story. That just seems to go on and on and on. People are working hard, no doubt. But this was a severe storm, causing damage beyond anything that the residents of this state of New Jersey, as well as New York, have seen before.
We all know what happened next. The Jersey Shore was absolutely devastated. Hopefully, in rebuilding, people will understand the dangers of having homes that are too close to the ocean. Mother Nature is not a force to be trifled with, and we received yet another lesson of that during Sandy.
Of course, the jersey Shore may have had it the worst, but it was far from the only place hit hard by the storm. Parts of New York City were suddenly submerged under water, and much of it remained without power for a long time, including in lower part of downtown (below 34th street, to my understanding). Staten Island and Queens got hit especially hard as well.
The rest of New Jersey was hit very hard as well, and slowly but surely, power is being restored, although far too many homes remain with no power. What makes this more than an inconvenience is the fact that it is getting quite cold out, particularly at night. If people who usually rely on electricity for light and heat and other comforts suddenly are forced to do without, it can be very dangerous. My parents live in the heavily wooded foothill region of Northwestern New Jersey, and they have been without power and water now for a week, since the main thrust of the storm hit. My father made mention that he felt, after this storm, that it should be illegal to have homes that are not equipped with fireplaces, or other means of keeping warm in the event that electricity might go out for days at a time.
That is an interesting point. It makes me wonder sometimes if we have grown too exclusively reliant on electricity and gasoline, when you see the crippled state that people seem to be in when they have been forced to go without one and/or the other. We are seeing examples of this presently.
Today, I visited my parent's home, but they were not there. My brother was, however, and I invited him back to my old apartment, where my ex and my son reside. There is electricity, and heat, and water. He marveled at how warm it felt, and he got to go online for the first time in over a week, which he felt was a personal record (he's forgetting the couple of decades that he went without the internet before it existed, of course). He was able to watch television, and take a comfortable shower, without being pressured to hurry up, as he evidently was at the shelter where he spent the previous few nights. My parents are spending their nights at the shelter.
I was also able to bring many gallons of water for flushing toilets and such at my parent's house during my visit, which hopefully alleviates some of the annoyances there. For now, my parents are not there, though, so the place remains empty. But it hopefully will help once the house is occupied again, which will happen....eventually. Right?
This storm has taken it's toll. Some people lost their lives, literally. Some people lost everything in their life, including their homes and everything that they had. Some remain stranded, virtually cut off from the world, awaiting relief. Some, like my parents, lost power and water and all of the modern day conveniences for far longer than they expected to. It cannot be stated enough just how powerful this storm proved to be, and how many people were affected and more than a little inconvenienced. We usually here about such things happening on the news, far away from our every day reality. But this storm should remind us in this region that it can, indeed, happen here. For those of us who have made it through, we should be more mindful, and thankful, for having gotten through it as intact as we have. I know that I am counting my blessings, because everyone close to me is safe and sound. Inconvenienced, yes. But I know that they are healthy, ad made it through. I had some inconveniences, but nothing like what made headlines around the world, and for that, I can be nothing but thankful.
Life will begin to resemble a more normal routine soon enough. Still, many are those still suffering, and we should look to help them in their hour of need, because they will have a longer road to return to normalcy than the rest of us. Let us remember this, and let us take lessons from the often panicked response that we unfortunately witnessed in the lead up to, and wake of, the storm.
Perhaps we should also keep in mind that these freakish monster storms, the once in a century kind, seem to be the new reality. They may come every few years, but they no longer seem to be the exclusive domain of once in a lifetime anymore. We shall see if this one proves, indeed, to be the only one that lived up to the hype, but I am not so sure. We can learn a few things from what happened this time around.
In the meantime, I will say this much: the night sky in the area has perhaps never been more beautiful. After dropping my brother off last night, I told him to look up at the night sky. It was amazingly clear, and reminded me of how that night sky has looked on some trips up north, like in the Adirondacks, or in northern New England. I don't remember ever seeing the stars so clearly in New Jersey or, for that matter, seeing so many of them! Incredible! The moon was an incredible tint of orange, and looked simply amazing! Breathtakingly beautiful! Later on, as I was driving along the highway to work, I actually saw a shooting star, the first one that I can remember seeing in years!
It has been said that you have to look at the positives in everything. So perhaps, this is the silver linings in all of this. We have less electricity, and the streets have never been more consistently dark then they have these last few days in this region. But that also means less pollution - less light pollution, less noise pollution. And tonight, I got a glimpse of another wonder that often remains largely hidden from us. It is not every day that we get to see something like that, yet tonight, I was fortunate enough to catch just a glimmer of something more hopeful after a week of despair, and there was no electricity, nothing artificial, about it!
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