*This post was supposed to go up Tuesday, October 30, but due to lack of interwebs, well, it’s a little late*
So here on the East Coast, we’ve been dealing with Hurricane Sandy since this past weekend. Storm trackers were on top of things starting last Friday, though my family had already heard reports and were asking me about it even earlier. Thank you to everyone for your love, concern, and offered support over this last week. I am so privileged to have so much love in my life, and I thank you all for it. To those who experienced effects far worse than we did, who have suffered from the damaging winds and surges, my heart goes out to you. You’re in my thoughts and prayers, and I wish you the fastest, safest recovery. For those helping, thank you, God bless, and please take care of yourselves, too.
Being here on the upper side of Manhattan, the effects haven’t been nearly as serious as those seemingly everywhere else on the East Coast. It’s like we had a special umbrella that protected us from everything – power outages, floods, property destruction – and for that I’m so thankful. On the other hand, a girl can only watch so much television over the span of a few short days. I say that tongue in cheek, since many are without power, but here’s a little glimpse into my last four days, preparing for the worst and experiencing the best, and luckily the most boring side, of Hurricane Sandy.
Saturday: My only day off during the week, I had a late start and went running for the first time since I got sick nearly two weeks ago. It’s not that I just now felt well enough to start running again; it’s that I was too lazy all week to get up an hour early and take care of business. I have every intention of getting back in shape starting November 1, so I will capitalize on these last few days of October and be the sloth that I loathe to be until then! After my run, I lazed around the apartment some more and went grocery shopping. Not only was I out of food, but my family in the Midwest was checking in on me and urging me to stock up on non-perishables and water, and I figured better safe than sorry. Afterward, I went to meet a new friend for coffee in this really neat little coffee shop with a library! We sat and talked for a good few hours, and I’m so glad we got together.
Saturday night was meant to be spent Halloween partying, but after plans fell through, I took advantage of the couple of Coors tallboys I’d bought for the occasion and went to work on my writing. I’ve nearly got a full outline for my NaNoWriMo story, but these character profiles are giving me the hardest time, mostly because I don’t feel like writing them. With November only a few days away, I know what I should spend the rest of the day doing! I didn’t pay much attention to weather reports, but my family kept me well informed that a storm of massive proportions was coming my way. The biggest news was the mayor’s warning that the MTA was considering shutting down transit. I didn’t realize it then, but in a city like New York that relies primarily on the subway and buses, this is a huge deal to say the least.
Sunday: I got up on Sunday for work at the bakery, and was surprised to see that the mall was largely dead. Usually we’re on a wait thirty minutes after we open, but we only managed a waiting list for an hour the whole time I was there. I did answer a number of phone calls asking whether or not we were open, and our managers mentioned in our pre-service meeting that if the subway were to shut down, that we would close early. As it was, I was sent home an hour early, at 3:00 instead of 4:00, and we did in fact close early, though I don’t know when. The subway stopped running at 7:00 that evening and buses shortly thereafter.
It wasn’t until then that I realized exactly how serious a storm this was going to be. Once home in my apartment, I went back out to do laundry (figured I was down to just a few pairs of underwear and should probably have enough to at least get me through the six days of stormy weather my iPhone weather report said we would have), where both TVs were showing weather reports. I started getting a lot more messages from family and some friends at this point, asking about my safety and wishing me the best. Between washing and drying cycles, I wandered next door to the same grocery store I’d visited the day before – then with minimal shoppers, shelves still lined with gallons and cases of water – to find ridiculously long lines at every register, most nuts and canned goods nowhere to be found, and a few singular bottles of water left on the selves. Deciding that I had enough from the previous day (but mostly because I was irritated by the long lines and frantic people), I just went back to the laundromat.
At home with clean laundry, I packed a go-bag complete with multiple days worth of clothes, my passport, my Nook, a few family photos, a box of granola bars, and the hundred dollars my mom suggested I withdraw, just in case. Since I’m a list-maker, I wrote out a “fast-grab” list in case we were made to evacuate immediately, which included: toothbrush, phone charger, phone, notebook, and medicine. The emergency hotline for my internship informed me that the office would be closed on Monday, and I was excited to have another day off work. My roommate and I bunkered down and I still got to watch Revenge and 666 Park Avenue between weather reports tracking Sandy’s progress.
Monday: For me, the most dramatic parts of my experience with Hurricane Sandy had passed. If those last few paragraphs didn’t seem overly dramatic, it’s because they simply weren’t. Preparing and wondering what would happen were the worst part of my preparations by far, and I’m thankful for that. I watched the reports of water levels rising at Battery Park, the most southern tip of Manhattan, and massive waves wreaking havoc on New Jersey before the storm even hit. With no coverage in our area and hours until the weather was supposed to get really bad, my roommate and I decided to take a walk by the Hudson to see what was happening for ourselves.
We walked down to the Hudson, which really is walking down. I’m maybe ten blocks from the highest point in Manhattan, and to get to the river I have to walk down my street, down a set of stairs, across a little overpass, down a winding path under the highway, across the street, under another underpass, and down another winding path through some woods. We’re a ways off the river, is my point. The water was very high and we could see where, presumably during high tide, the water had pushed up across the running path. Aside from some small gusts of wind, things were relatively calm, and there were even joggers, bikers, and families with young kids out looking around.
Satisfied with our photos, we worked our way back up to the neighborhood. On the way home, I got a Dunkin Donuts pumpkin latte as well as 25 Munchkins (chocolate and pumpkin!), and a piece of pizza to accompany me while we rode out the storm. At this point, around 1:00, Sandy had reached the status of Hurricane Irene in some places, but the storm was still a solid six hours off the coast, the worst yet to come. I put on my grey baggy high school soccer sweats and snuggled up with the weather report. But I was bored of the weather within an hour, so I muted it, keeping half an eye out for breaking news, and cued up House from my external hard drive.
The rest of my Monday was spent watching 15 episodes – yes, 15 45-minute episodes – and eating way too much. I kept an eye on the charge on my phone, plugging it in when it fell to less than 80%, and tried to resist opening my entire stash of food all at one time. Casualties in my apartment include: two pieces of French toast, SunChips, RiceWorks Sweet Chili crisps, ¼ jar of dry roasted peanuts, one slice of broccoli and tomato pizza, one pumpkin latte, approximately 12 Munchkins, and five water bottles of water (filled from the faucet, not the sealed gallon I bought). My greatest health threats: impending obesity from my binging, and bed sores from excessive lying around all day. You’ll be happy to know, I scraped by with only mild stiffness from my self-imposed lack of movement. I received an email that the bakery would be closed on Tuesday, another day off work for me. I dozed off around 1am to the occasional gust of wind outside my window, though only mild from what I could hear.
Tuesday: I woke up this morning and immediately turned on the news and realized just how lucky I am and how much real damage I avoided here in upper Manhattan. I ventured outside to see the state of our streets, but aside from a number of leaves from the now bare trees, there’s nothing piled up on the sidewalks, no damage here to speak of. Down closer to the George Washington Bridge, all I see are more bare trees. There may be more to see closer down to the water, but there are plenty greater and more important stories all around the area, particularly in New Jersey from what I’m seeing.
For now, public transit is still shut down here and there are a reported 2 million without power. That seems to be the primary concern for the city now, other than rescue efforts of course, and some buses will be running starting this evening. For now, I’ll wait until there’s another update on my office’s emergency hotline to see what my agenda will be for tomorrow, on Halloween. They don’t expect the subway to be back up for another four days or so, and I don’t know how else I would even get to work unless the buses all start running by tomorrow.
I don’t mean to be insensitive by highlighting how un-serious my situation is here in Manhattan, only to show how lucky I am to have such minor, petty concerns. To everyone who has reached out to me, thank you all again! I really do feel all warm and fuzzy, and it’s not just the sweatpants I’ve been wearing for days on end. To those all over the area, I wish you the best and hope your situation more closely resembles mine and not some of the tragic cases they’re continuing to report on the news. To those in the Midwest and further north who are just now experiencing the effects of Hurricane Sandy, be strong, be safe, and God bless. Take care everyone! I’ll be here, hopefully continuing to write and prepare for NaNoWriMo (unless I’m watching more House, which is saddeningly likely). For myself, I hope to God I can manage to eat less and control myself today, because my ass cannot continue to handle the amount of calories I’m ingesting. Stay safe, everyone.
Here and there,
Kiley
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