Last Monday night Hurricane Sandy made landfall into NJ. Our power went out right after supper so we spent the rest of the night listening to the very loud storm whipping through. I have to say, it was very intense, kinda scary. And since it was evening it was difficult to see what was going on out there. In the middle of the night there was a full moon and we couldn't sleep so we were watching the trees in our back yard being bent over by the extreme winds. Even if any fell over (which at least 2 did in our woods) we couldn't hear it because the wind was so loud. Even so, there is something so exciting and energizing about watching a big powerful storm doing what it does.
One of the first major effects, aside from having no power, is that there was almost an immediate gas shortage as only the few gas stations with generators were able to pump gas. Here is a line of traffic that reaches all the way to the end of our road. The following day we went to that gas station, a half mile from our home, we got there an hour before it opened and we still spent close to 2 1/2 hrs waiting for gas. Since then, Gov. Christie has implemented gas rationing and odd/even gas days.
Here are some of the pictures I've taken along the way to record the events of the week. This one was taken from our driveway.
There was a large police presence at the open gas stations, for the obvious reason to keep peace between angry and anxious drivers. We were happy to see the police there!!
We were very fortunate to have a gas stove top that we could light with a match. Here I was using the griddle top as an oven to cook up a pan of enchiladas that I didn't want to go bad.
Here is our refrigeration. Several days after the storm our neighbor offered to take some of our frozen food and put it in his freezer so we did end up doing that and were able to save things.
We cooked with flashlights...it was like camping.
Darryl washed the dishes by candlelight/flashlight. It was pretty stinking cold in there at night!
Most of the time we were pretty bundled up!! For the first few days I simply could not get warm!
Our living room, where we spent each night reading by... yep, flashlights/candles... it was fun for a while....
Grocery stores simply cannot keep food, all the frozen food is gone, shelves are empty because they don't have enough fuel to run generators to keep freezers running. We did find ice for our cooler at a liquor store!!
I know these pictures aren't all that impressive, but there were so many trees down it was ridiculous. Power lines down all over the place, trees, poles down, transformers had blown out during the storm.
This is down our road...
Cleaning out the freezer/fridge...
Late Friday night Paul and Michele drove out from Michigan with a generator. We ran it Friday night for a few hours and then again for several hours on Saturday. All I could think about is all the gas that thing is going to take to keep running...and how hard it would be to continue getting gas.
Sunday morning my wonderful Pastor invited us to come stay at his house while he's vacationing in Florida, so we were blessed to be able to come here to stay for a few days. We still don't know when our power will be back on. It might be tonight, or tomorrow, we just don't know.
Because of all the devastation in NJ now, we were able to vote for President in Wayne instead of driving back to Roxbury.
Oh yeah, there is a Nor'Easter headed our way tomorrow. Not sure how that will interfere with power restoration efforts, but we will play it by ear, from day to day, to figure out when we should go home. I will keep you posted!
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