Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, but she has not yet been forgotten. For us, the experience was not traumatic and we were very fortunate throughout it all. 

Sunday we had church at 10am. Curt and I actually both spoke in Sacrament meeting. Just as Sunday School ended there was an announcement that there was a mandatory evacuation of Zone A in Manhattan (red zone). We didn't know what zone we were in but soon found a map showing we didn't need to evacuate We held an emergency meeting instead of Elders' Quorum/Relief Society and dismissed for people to prepare and evacuate. Many people in our ward were evacuated. Throughout Sunday the wind picked up and the rain came off and on.

On Monday most things were shut down in the city. Curt stayed home from work (training was cancelled Monday and Tuesday but he's at work today) and we hung out at home. It was a great vacation (vacation only because we weren't affected like many). I left in the morning to get some food at the grocery store and the streets were completely empty. I was surprised to see the Times Square neighborhood a ghost town. It was very windy and misty on my walk. The brunt of the storm arrived later in the day. From our apartment we could see the water from the Hudson flood the West Side Highway and could hear the wind and pelting our windows. The windows really shook. On Monday evening many people lost power in Manhattan: most places south of 39th Street. We are the lucky ones on 42nd. Many even lost running water in their buildings. The streets flooded, cars downtown floated on streets, the tunnels and subways flooded, etc.

Tuesday seemed to be the first day of recovery. The winds were still blowing and people remained without power and water. Many will be without power for up to 4-8 more days (wow!).

Today was the first day I went running after the weekend. I was surprised to see how much progress has been made in clean-up. New York City is recovering. 3 of 7 subway line/tunnels are already pumped out, some buses are running and some subway lines will be running tomorrow. We had some friends from the ward come over to have showers, use internet, etc. They were evacuated from their home on Sunday and their home is still without power. They were told it could be mid-next week before they have it back.

I took this running along the Hudson River parkway. It was in a lot better shape than I expected considering the water surged and flooded there Monday night. I ran by many crews who were cleaning up the bike path and gardens. They had certainly made a lot of progress. Starting around 20th street it smelt of exhaust and the air was full of dust. It was really uncomfortable to breathe. We turned around and went the other way after we had a bit of that air. I'm guessing it's from all the generators and pumps.

The bowling alley on our corner was flooded. The water must have come right up to our building but not entered. A construction site across the street is still flooded.

June enjoying the run.