Hurricane Sandy – No Power For Seven Days – New Jersey
Hurricane Sandy Damage- No Heat And Hot Water For 5 Days – New Jersey
I really wasn’t prepared for the amount of damage Hurricane Sandy would leave behind on Monday October 29, 2012. As far as storms go, the weather on Sunday and Monday did not seem so bad. I have lived through worse. It didn’t rain much out by me in New Jersey, and though my power went out and there was some heavy winds, I didn’t think it would take more than a day to get everything cleaned up. That’s what I thought before I woke up and looked out my window and saw a large tree had fallen and just missed crashing through my window by five feet. I didn’t even hear the tree come down, but my neighbors were watching it as it fell, and luckily it fell slowly and not into anyone’s home.
Compared to whats others have gone through, some losing their lives, some losing their homes from flooding, my difficulties resulting from Hurricane Sandy are just inconveniences in comparison and I am thankful for what I have. First, I have to say that am very glad that we didn’t have any flooding. Flooding can cause so much damage to a home, that there is no recovering from it. My power went out on October 29, 2012 and I didn’t get power back until November 3, 2012. Some people still don’t have power as of November 6, 2012. My cell service was horrible up until I got powered restored, while others with different service providers had service. I am looking into changing my cell service provider. I didn’t have heat and hot water for five days, and I was washing with cold water for the first three days. The funny thing is I was reminded that I could light my gas stove with a lighter to heat up water and to get some heat. Since I eat mostly uncooked food now I hardly use the stove now. The stove was so far from my mind that I didn’t even think of using it. Using the stove to heat water during a power outage is now in my survival kit book. I was able to deal with the lack of heat by wearing layers of clothes. I am thankful for the clothes I have, and it is a good thing I had enough clean clothes (smile). Not having power became old quickly after a couple of days without it, and I started anticipating it coming back on. I was concerned with paying some of my bills on time, and I wanted to do some work on my website. Getting gas was ridiculous! I would wait hours on line to be told that the gas station ran out of gas. I averaged 3 hours on line each time I went out to try to get gas. Though I spent a lot of time waiting on line, I was more concerned about running out of gas while I was waiting for gas, than the time I spent waiting. I decided to turn my car of whenever I wasn’t moving on the line, because I was really low on gas. People would tell me that I would burn more that way, restarting my car. “You think?” I would take my chances stopping and restarting my car, than to let the car idle for three hours. People were running out of gas while idling their cars, while waiting for gas. I didn’t run out, even though I was on E.
Things I Learned And Observed
- Adversity makes it difficult for people to hide who they really are.
- After three days without power, it is best just to leave the refrigerator door open.
- My vegetables didn’t last long without refrigeration.
- My apples stayed fresh the whole time without refrigeration.
- Remember I can get heat from lighting the stove even when the power is out (be careful of the fumes).
- I could use the stove to heat up water to wash up with. Washing with ice cold water is not a fun thing for me.
- A week off from work with forced relaxation and removal from things electronic is really mind clearing.
- Darkness makes me sleepy. I went to bed early since I didn’t have power.
- Always make sure I fill up my car with gas before a hurricane arrives.
- I will turn off my car when I am not moving, waiting on a 3 hour long line for gas.
- Spelt bread, almond butter, and strawberry spread is a good food staple.
- Have some bottle water. I have a water purifier, but it may not have been effective if my tap water became really polluted.
- Next time make sure I do laundry before a hurricane arrives.
- I able garbanzo beans straight out of the can without steaming them, with just some salt, pepper, and cilantro, and I liked how it tasted. I will be doing that more often, and it is a quick healthy meal to prepare.
Others all around my neighborhood experienced similar situations. Right around the corner a tree fell on a neighbors house…
Tags: hurricane sandy
