Thursday, November 8, 2012
Armageddon It!
After being plunged into darkness (without heat) for 10 days after Hurricane Sandy, cut off from all communication with the outside world (no facebook, cell phone or television), standing in obscenely long gas lines (4 hours long), and spending each day worrying about basic survival (food, heat, water, shelter, etc), I have found myself:
a. counting my blessings and being thankful for the little things
b. disgusted by the behavior of so many people (looting, cutting gas lines, siphening gas from others' gas tanks, fighting/using guns to intimidate others for their own gain)
c. pondering the idea of what our future will be like in terms of energy, food and many other shortages
d. do normal civilized people have the ability to be savages when basic needs are taken away
e. overwhelmed by how generous people can be and how people can come together after a true human disater (Also, witnessed after 9/11)
f. weeping tears of joy when I was plunged back into the 21st Century and could get a glimpse of CNN instead of listening to my transistor radio for electoral vote collection regarding the presidential election
g. realizing how lucky I am to have a wonderful family filled with love, a roof over my head, a job I truly enjoy, and my health!
Please write a thoughtful response about your experiences before, during and after this natural disaster called Hurricane Sandy.
How has it influenced you personally or others around you?
Discuss some of your observations about human nature.
What do you think our future holds?
What crucial things should we learn from this event?
How is our society better or worse off going forward?
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Hurricane Sandy brought me quite an interesting experience. I have never been through a big hurricane before and I can now say that they are not fun. I had no power for a week and trying to find food, warmth, and gas was a big challenge. My boredom could be displayed through the four games of Monopoly that I Played. Sure I can sit here and complain about how bored I was or how I didn’t have power, but what I got most out Hurricane Sandy was the chance to be closer to my family and friends and the ability to realize how certain things affect humanity. The storm showed me that I needed to bond more with my family. When I went out to my friend’s house after the storm, my parents wouldn’t eat or sleep until I arrived home or heard from me. That is what family is about. I realized that bonding with family and friends can make any awful situation, instantly more enjoyable. Not only did I learn about bonding, but also what the loss of something can do to people. People these days are so used to having power and gas that they do not know what it’s like without it. People will go insane waiting in their houses for electricity, and will hurt others for a mere gallon of gas. Maybe the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy will open people’s eyes and will make them realize what they need to do more, and maybe even enjoy less.
After the tragic events of hurricane Sandy and the entire trauma it brought Long Island and surrounding areas, it really makes you appreciate the little things. For my family and I, we were out of power for nine long days and it was really difficult taking ice cold showers and cuddling under a ton of blankets when night time falls and the cold air engulfs you in. But we all got to spend more time together than what our normal busy day schedules gives us, so that was a plus. On the Sunday before we went back to school, one of my friends had asked me if I wanted to come and help volunteer on a coaches house that got destroyed in the hurricane. Not thinking much of it I was all ready and was on my way to Amityville with her and her family. When I got there, I was in complete shock. It was such a devastating scene and it was in that moment that I realized just how scary this hurricane was and how many people got affected so much worse than me. His whole house was ruined and just looking at him, you could tell that he was in pure shock. It really made me appreciate all that I had and how lucky I was to only lose my power. With all that’s going on with the gas shortages and how that’s making people crazy, it really makes you wonder what the future of our country is going to be and how long it’s going to take everyone to recover from this natural disaster.
Hurricane Sandy was one of the biggest and most destructive natural disasters in Long Island history. Although most of Long Island was severaly damaged, nothing terrible happened to me or my family personally other than the fact that we lost our electricity for six days. Even though I find losing our power to be good family bonding time, it can really make me and just about everyone else go insane. I personally hate the dark and having to be in it along with being frozen and having no form of communication it literally drove me off the cliff of all things sane. One of the worst parts about Hurricane Sandy that affect ALL of Long Island was the gas situation and how supplies were low. Waiting on the long gas lines were just about torture and it made me grateful that we didn't have to face these horrible situations everyday. When I heard that people were stealing gas from other people's cars and stealing other people's generators I felt sorry for our society because it made me realize how selfish people can get and how most people don't care about the health or safety of others. Although I found that everyone came together as one to help repair Long Island, I also found that everyone is absolutely lost without electricity and technology. Although I have no idea what the future holds, as long as we have technology and electricity and no terrible shortages then we should be okay for now, but who knows what could happen in the long run.
Hurricane Sandy has influenced many people on Long Island and all I think about is the people who lost everything. I was upset because I didn’t have power and I couldn’t watch TV but there was a person out there that didn’t have a home to sit in while it was freezing out and had a lot more to worry about than just the power turning back on. This hurricane was a bad one; I truly feel that in the future if another hurricane hits Long Island and it is worse than this one we will complete devastated. This hurricane was bad but it wasn’t to the highest extent, the future is scary because we don’t know what weather we will be faced with. I think everybody should learn to have enough nonperishable food items in the homes. I think everybody should buy a generator they truly are a lifesaver because they could keep your heat running, they could keep your appliances running so you don’t lose all of your food. I feel like everybody has learned from the past two hurricanes we have had and our society is better off going forward. Many people are aware of the dangers and what a hurricane can bring; so many people will know what they need for any upcoming encounters with hurricanes.
Hurricane Sandy was obviously a deadly blow to the east coast. It gave everyone a taste of how quickly things can get taken away from us my nature. Before the hurricane I helped my mom get the house ready and stock up on anything she thought was missing in her arsenal. The worst thing that happened to me this hurricane was the loss of power. Only when I was playing Madden and needed the power most, it was taken away from me. Afterwards, I took my little sister and walked her into town to check out the damage first hand. It was incredible to see the town so lifeless and baron. My power ended up coming back in 5 days but many of my friends did not and I got to see how they act when they are forced back into the 17th century. It was not pretty, and it makes me nervous thinking that eventually we will get another storm, possibly a worse one, and be forced to look over our shoulder for other people. In the future, I think that people will react the same to this. The world is full of selfish people who care only for themselves and if we want to endure another one of these storms, we cannot have that. People need to learn how not to be so overly dependent on things that could be taken away from you. If people learn now and make efforts to be more independent and have knowledge on how to be independent when needed, that’s something positive that could have come from this storm. Our society I think is still in the afterward shock that comes from one of these big storms. People are so heavily reliant on the gas stations that people are actually killing other people to get some. It’s interesting to see the state troopers at every gas station and generator. Imagine even a bigger storm hits and fight breaks out in the gas stations. All these apocalyptic scenarios became slightly real for the east coast this past week and I think have opened up people’s eyes. Unfortunately, I think if another one of these were to hit, the way people act will only get more violent and become something that is out of control. That would be a scary day.
I feel that our whole area and all repair and electrical companies greatly underestimated the impact that Hurricane Sandy would have on our region. Our state government, while in the end proving to be in control, did in fact underestimate the storm and only called in National Guard troops into the area to help the morning of the Hurricane. My family was well prepared for the power to go out and for the damage that would eventually come. During the storm we treated it like any other day. We knew that conditions were deteriorating outside and it would not be a good idea to be out there. At around 4:30 PM we lost power, but since we still had cable and our generator was already set up, we were still able to enjoy at least our TV for an extra few hours. Luckily, my house had no damage and there were no fallen trees in my area. The extent of the damage to my home was downed fence and a small leak that was easy to fix. However, the lack of power for 9 days did prove to take a toll on our mental state of mind. Thankfully, my family had a generator and thanks to the way that we use it, we were still able to enjoy a hot shower or a microwavable meal almost every day. I have been moved by the extreme amount of community outreach that I have seen from people all over the Tri-State region who have gone out to lend a hand or offer assistance. I am not surprised by the actions that those more fortunate people took to help others, but it does displease that when it comes to human nature, it takes an event so tragic and devastating to bring out this behavior. In the end, this strong has proved a lesson that no matter how prepared we could ever possibly be, we are still vulnerable and that no storm should be underestimated.
Before Hurricane Sandy occurred, all I heard was talk about this big storm that was coming to hit us and I heard and saw people who were extremely frazzled about what was going to happen. I thought people were overreacting and that we would really have nothing to worry about. I figured we might be out of power for three or four days but we would get through it. Watching Sandy hit was an experience like no other. My dad and I took a ride to the beaches to see what was happening. It was such a thrill- storm chasing. I looked out my windows into my front yard only to see the woods across the street start to tumble down. That's probably the coolest thing about living in front of a wooded area. I saw the trees completely bend as the wind picked up and I saw trees come crashing down. I lost power Saturday afternoon around 3pm and I still don't have it back, 13 days later. It's been extremely difficult to live like this because other than power, I have no hot water or heat. I've been "house hoping" a lot to take showers and charge my phone and computer. I understand that other families are extremely impacted from this storm and don't even have a roof over their head anymore, but I must say what an inconvenience all of this is. My dad went out to buy a generator four days ago but even with that, we can’t leave it on all day because it’s quite a gas guzzler. We turn it on for about an hour in the morning when we all need to get ready for school or work so we can take showers and we turn it on for about three hours at night if we want to watch tv or charge our phones for the next day. Last night I actually got back my cable and internet but it seems to be nothing without power. I must say I do enjoy how close this storm has brought my family. Spending endless nights in the candle light to play board games and laugh is something every family should have experienced. As close as my family is, it’s nice to see everyone come together and not have to worry about what’s going on in their life. The world basically came to a screeching halt. Unlike my mom and brother, I haven’t had to experience any long gas lines. Our friend owns a gas station so when he got a delivery, he called and I was able to get right on line since I was home that day. I got lucky with that one! I think the gas rationing that starts today is a really good idea because it will help shorten the gas lines. Obviously we all can’t wait for this to be over because I know I feel like in a way it’s tearing our community apart. I’ve never seen people act like such animals. They’re so violent and take some extremes to get something like gas or even bread at the grocery store. This whole thing is an upsetting experience but it has made me appreciate the time in which I live. I never really thought power was a big deal but let me tell you, it really is necessary for the day in age which we live. I am proud of myself though because I’ve learned to accept the fact that I don’t have power and I’m not getting it back anytime soon. (LIPA told me I can expect it after November 20th) I continue to “house hop” if I need anything and I can’t thank my friends enough for allowing me to do that. I can’t wait for a home cooked meal and power, but I am thankful to still have my house and my family’s health.
On that Monday when Hurricane Sandy hit my house lost power which at first was just an inconvenience, but once we lost heat, hot water, and couldn’t save any more food it became a problem. I didn’t gain my power back until eight days later. Luckily I had family and friends who never lost power or gained it back right away that kindly invited my family and I over to use their utilities. My parents are divorced and each remarried. My dad also lost power at his house in Farmingville on Monday night but gained it back on Halloween morning. My dad and stepmom invited not only me and my brother to come stay with them for a few days, but also my mom, stepdad, stepsister, and my stepdad’s sister who lives alone and also had no power to come stay at their house. This just shows that people do come together to help out one another in desperate times, and actually we all had a great time together. That Sunday after Hurricane Sandy my family and I went to Amityville to help my brother’s lacrosse coach clean up his house who got destroyed. This young man is married with three month old triplets and now has nothing. Going through his belongs trying to see what wasn’t wet and damaged, which most was, made me feel so grateful that my only loss from this storm was power. It’s hard to imagine how much people have lost from Sandy until you’re a first-hand witness. It’s going to be a long road to recovery for so many people and the littlest thing that people can do to help will make a difference, but it’s going to take everybody’s participation.
They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but only those granted the privilege of walking away from a tragedy get to say it. The lives lots during Hurricane Sandy are a constant reminder of the damage Mother Nature can do to our society, no matter how technologically sound we may think we are. The second our power is cut off, we lose our access to luxuries, necessities, and emergency help. As a result, during this natural disaster, people were stripped of their entertainment, basic needs for survival, and life-saving assistance. I, myself, was fortunate enough to have lost no one and nothing close to me with the exception of my electricity for eight days. Sure, the cold seemed to become more and more unbearable with each day and the sinking temperature it brought with it, but a complaint will not come from my mouth after seeing the damage to my fellow beloved New Yorkers and neighboring states.
Knocked out of power, there was little my family could do. My dad’s office and business of selling real estate as a whole were ultimately shut down for the week, so he dedicated his free time to helping people by becoming a volunteer for the Red Cross.
One of the things most people have talked about most this week has been the horrors of society they witnessed—the creeping thought of insanity with each waking minute without electricity, the terrifying experiences shared from gas line to gas line, the depression that set in upon seeing those who lost everything—but not enough people have put their words into action and made a difference.
My dad was delivering fresh meals across Long Island from shelter to shelter in the midst of a Nor’Easter. He came across one man, a bit younger than him, working for a real estate company who had lost everything but his wife, two sons, and little girl. Tears came to my dads’ eyes as he stared at a shivering man with the same family, same job, and up until this moment, same life as him, who had in the blink of an eye lost everything. Without skipping a beat, my dad hugged the man for immediate warmth, found a place to change, and gave the man the long johns off his body.
Without a doubt, I have learned a lot about my society, my friends, and myself from this store. But most of all, thanks to the old guy who makes me burnt grilled cheese and snores too loud in the room next to me, I learned what it takes to be a hero in a time of tragedy: help those in need, and lead by example. He may have only helped that man in a small way, but he became a hero to me.
Unfortunately, hurricane sandy has caused more than minor damage to many on the island. People have lost their cars, boats, homes, and even some lives were taken away. However, our town was lucky enough to only lose power. In times like this, the only way to remain sane is to keep thinking “It could be worse.” Although loss of power doesn’t seem like a big deal compared to what others suffered, it has begun to literally have people going crazy.
It actually disgusts me how much we rely on electricity. To be honest with you, I think if my house was heated, I would have been able to wait a little longer for the lights. But that was not the case. I lost my power Monday, October 29th. Originally, I was not worried at the thought of losing power, because I’m the type of person who can literally entertain themselves doing nothing. I’ll find every little thing to do when I’m bored. Everything becomes interesting to me, and I can stare into darkness and think for hours without becoming frustrated. However, on the day we lost power, I somehow managed to get really sick. I wanted to take a hot shower and eat hot food, but unfortunately, I couldn’t do that. That’s when it hit me that I was really going to miss the little things.
This was only the beginning. It was extremely stressful for me and many other seniors to apply to college. There was a deadline for applications right in the middle of the power outage. Finding internet hot spots was not exactly a walk in the park, because once you did find a place with wi-fi, it was usually over-crowded and full of cranky people complaining about LIPA.
I do not have a generator, but my neighbors do and they were nice enough to offer us the final outlet on theirs. My mom excitedly plugged in the fridge, only to realize that if we wanted to keep the fridge plugged in, we’d have to leave our back door slightly open 24/7. You think you were freezing? My house was literally the temperature of the outdoors.
Sunday night I found myself at my breaking point, until suddenly, the power came back on. I was so thankful and offered hot showers to all of my friends. I was finally beginning to calm down until the noreaster. We lost power. Again.
Now, how I got power back the second time is actually a funny story. My neighbors have kids who live off of ventilators. In order to keep the ventilators going during the outage, they had to fill a propane tank, which costs $150 per day. They called LIPA and explained their situation—that there was only so much they could do to keep their kids living during this power outage. They explained that they needed power immediately. The LIPA officer responded, and said that my neighbor was being “over dramatic and over emotional.” Frustrated, my neighbor called Verizon Fios. Within 20 minutes, Fios was parked in front of their house doing a news story on my neighbor’s situation. Last night it was aired. LIPA hurried on over to fix the power and possibly restore a decent reputation. Hah.
I am now with power and I could not be happier. Overall, this situation has really taught me that we should not take things for granted and that we should all calm down a little bit. Honestly, I get it if you’re elderly, or if you have a baby, or if you’re disabled. But if you’re flipping out because you can’t watch the newest episode of X Factor or you can’t get internet connection to twitter, you need to just take a deep breath. Technology is not the answer to everything and you will eventually get it back. Take this time to appreciate time with your family, or maybe even a sunny day outside. If you don’t appreciate the little things around you now, you might not ever get the chance to again.
My experience with hurricane Sandy was definitly not bad compared to what many are going through right now. I lost power early on Monday and got it back on Friday. Living without power for a few days obviously wasn't fun but I am thankful that I have a home to go to and I realize that there are many people that have it much worse than I did. There was no real damage to my house or yard other than the old fence that blew down but needed to be replaced anyway. This hurricane has showed me how great simple things are in life such as power, heat, hot water, gas and food. The hurricane has also showed how crazy some people are. People have been doing things such as fighting and cutting long lines just to get a tank of gas. Some people also have shown how self centered they are. Some people haven't worried much about the people who are really suffering in this disaster. People need to wake up and realize that there are people in places like Long Beach, Staten Island, Lindenhurst and most places south of montauk that have been destroyed. Having power isn't fun but people need to stop complaining about not having it for a few days when there are other people who have lost their homes and even family. This hurricane will make us a stronger society and will hopefully better prepare us for the future.
My personal experiences with hurricane sandy were not the greatest, during the storm I had to worry about a lose tree falling on my house or my neighbor’s house. My power was out from the day of the storm till yesterday. During the aftermath of the storm I had to go shopping in stores with no powers or lights on, people were just taking what they wanted and leaving the store because no one could stop them, it got really bad fast so I had to leave. At first I loved board games they were the greatest thing ever invented, but around the third day with no power things were just horrible and then to kick us while we were down the snow storm comes and I freeze my ass off in a house that was at one point 33 degrees. I slept one of the nights in my bed with 4 blankets on, 5 pair of pants and 2 sweatshirts. But I was lucky compared to some, I know people how had died and friends who had gone to funerals during the aftermath because of lost family members hit by falling trees. I also have friends and family on the south shore; some were very lucky and are getting tons of money to fix what is damaged. Others didn’t have the same luck and had trees fall and flooding and even brick work tear up off the ground. On the note of people acting horrible, fighting at gas stations and stealing things from stores with no power, we are only human and everyone deals with pain and stress differently some cry some fight, I’m not saying it’s right I’m just saying it happens . I think our society is better off in the long run because of this hurricane because now we can be prepared and know what to do and what not to do if this situation or something similar comes up again.
Fortunately, the hurricane did not affect my house and our personal belongings. But Hurricane Sandy also gave the prospective my family needed. We are very privileged, we have a roof over our heads, 2 Ipads and all have Iphones. We have a family that cares about each and every member’s wellbeing, even if we don’t think so sometimes. Unfortunately it took basically a natural disaster to make all of the things we take for granted evident. My family lost power for 8 days. At first, it wasn’t so bad, the weather was bearable and the loss of technology was controllable since the Ipad had about 50% battery. After a few days passed my family began to cringe at the sight of an outlet and run into Starbucks with all of our chargers and devices. It got me thinking about how dependent my family is on communication and the outside world, well that is except for John, who doesn’t even know how to turn his Iphone on, let alone talk to people. Don’t worry… he’s learning. But, for the rest of my family, we soon lost the glow of the first few days and became irritable. Luckily, our friend kindly donated their working generator (my dad broke our first one on the first day… DON’T RUN YOUR GENERATOR WITHOUT GAS) which we would use for the basics, like my turtle’s heat lamp or the heat and sometimes, if we were lucky, the Wi-fi. But, that generator ate gas like it was his job, and soon we found ourselves on an hour half gas line, that surprisingly moved relatively fast. On the lines, my mom would talk to the others around her, gathering information about the possible open gas stations and what was happening on these lines. She came into the car with a shocked look on her face and when I asked what was wrong she exclaimed all of the things that people were saying happened on the gas lines, just because people needed to run their generators or “get to the city like right now.” It bombarded me with a little bit of fear and a huge amount of curiosity if I was going to find myself on one of those lines. Thankfully, I never had such encounters, but it physically sickens me that people are like this. It has made me realize that along with food, shelter and water, gas may just become a basic necessity here on Long Island. At the end of the day, I was just happy to find my autistic brother lying down on the couch watching his “
Beyblade” on YouTube again and my mother playing her Sudoku on her phone, it was home to me. And as I walked out of the living room and back to my room, to my puppy snoring fully asleep on my bed, I became incredibly thankful that my family survived this break from reality, and I hoped that whoever was majorly affected would get as much help as they can. This weekend, my family and I are going to give back for all our privileges and go see what we can do for the families affected.
One never truly appreciates the things they have until there gone. This quote applies to what I have experienced from Hurricane Sandy. I never realized before how lucky I was to have lights, hot water and heat before. These were things that I took for granted every day and never thought twice about. I never before had thought about how I was going to shower because I didn’t have hot water, or how I was going to get food since my refrigerator was empty. Hurricane Sandy made me value these little things. Before the hurricane both my dad and I both said that it was going to be a little storm and in the morning it would be sunny out and nothing would have happened. We both had thought that they were making a bigger deal of the storm then it really was. Unfortunately we were wrong. I woke up instead to sunshine, to darkness and coldness. But truthfully, I cannot complain because all I lost from the storm was a tree in my backyard, some shingles on my roof, and power for 11 days. This storm caused families homes to burn down and flood. These families lost everything they owned. So yeah, I was cold at night but I was asleep in my bed, while some individuals didn’t have a bed to sleep in.
This hurricane made me see the good and bad in people. In the beginning of the hurricane my neighborhood came together and we played games in my home and everyone brought over food in the house and we tried to cook it the best we could. We had pasta parties many nights. I feel that this hurricane brought my neighborhood closer together. Yet, some people weren’t so nice. This storm made people psychotic and the gas shortages only made it worse. I think that it is ridiculous that fights had to break out because of gas. In this desperate time we should be helping people not shooting them. I think that it is sad what our society has come to and I hope that it changes because if another gas shortage happens, I don’t know how people will react. This hurricane has taught me to appreciate what I have and be thankful for my family, friends, my house and the little things in life that most of us take for granted.
Hurricane Sandy is one storm that hit one area in the world, and it just so happened to be the strongest and most proud place in the world, The Tri-State area. New York is home to the toughest and proudest people out. After living through both 9/11, Hurricane Irene (which was a baby compared to our most recent storm) and of course Hurricane Sandy, I now realize just how resilient we are. I have seen things I wish I could forget. From houses being destroyed to people killed, gas lines hours long and people being held at gun point for a Wendy’s sandwich. Human nature is one of the most raw and destructive forces out there. When pushed to a point, any person can do anything on any given day. Survival is scary. It is something that thankfully most of us don’t have to go through on a daily basis, but, is something that any person is capable and willing to do in a time of need. I even found me, ready to go and defend my family and me if god-forbid someone tried to break in or steal my generator. The unbelievable thought of killing someone for personal gain, in a time where everybody around you is going through the same thing as you, and if not worse, is absolutely disgusting and embarrassing. That being said, I do understand the survival instinct that is shown through human behavior in times of need and despair. Some people cope with loss in different ways. That is part of human nature and is what draws a strict distinction between not only us but every other species on the planet. The craziest part about this whole mess is coincidentally the most inspiring. That even though people were at their wits end, their utter breaking point, people who lost everything were still willing to give back and help others. In regards to me, like I said I was ready to fight and defend myself, yet the very next day I was willing to help my neighbors cut trees or travel 40 minutes away to my coaches house who lost everything and help him and his family out. I’m not a saint, nor do I want to be. I don’t do the right thing all the time, but it is through acts like these, from other people all around the Tri-State area that makes humans so amazing and so inspiring. Even though someone may have lost something near and dear to them, there will always be someone in a worse situation. I think that is what puts this hurricane into perspective. That though this is brutal and has devastated nearly every single person around here in one way or another, in the grand scheme of things we will be alright. This can only make us stronger and this will only build Long Island and its surrounding areas to be better than ever. I love where I live, I wouldn’t live anywhere else, simply because I know that nowhere else are there people like us, willing to do whatever it takes to help out.
In my experiences from Hurricane Sandy, it wasn’t as bad as many others faced. I only lost power from the natural disaster for only about 15 hours and I had power from then on. Before the hurricane I didn’t think it was going to be all so bad, but as I watched outside things were bad out. The worse part of it all was the effects of the hurricane which made people go chaotic. I had my entire family come over and come together after this incident since they didn’t have power. I had my cousin sleep over for 4 nights straight and every morning I wake up to seeing my family downstairs watching movies together. It was nice to see as this just never happens before. Outside of my house though, people were going crazy with no power and start looting like the world was going to end the next day. People had trees fall and their houses fell and were ruined and especially their backyards. I was grateful to have power and glad no one got hurt in my family. Around me, people had trees fall on their houses and had many negative effects on them. My observations from human nature is that nature is there to test us in ways that try to separate others and lose others by separating what’s true and what’s false. You can tell who really is who they are without having their basic needs. I think that our future holds scarcity in gas for travel. Our future also holds us in that people will appreciate what we have and how to prepare for next time. We should learn that appreciate and love the people who support and are there to help you. Also appreciate how gas is a huge play in our lives and how we should be grateful to have it. Our society is both better and worse off going forward. The worse is the struggle of scarcity of gas and how people go chaotic without their basic needs. The better is we will appreciate what we have and be grateful for the things we had that were temporarily lost.
Before the actually Hurricane, I thought it was all blown out of proportion. I thought it was going to be some heavy rain for an hour or two like last time. And yet it seemed like I was the only one who was thinking that way. Because my gas tank had naturally reached empty I needed gas right before the storm "hit". But I wasn’t the only one for 80% of the gas stations I visited were empty and the other 20% I had to wait on line. I knew this was a sign of mass hysteria to come the next few days. After getting gas after waiting on line for just about 10 minutes, grocery stores were flowing with endless amounts of panicking people worried about perishable food and water. Like for real? We really need 12 cases of water? I thought for a moment what was to happen when there is no more water or food, like in the future? Are people going to be buying out super markets? At this point I still thought everything was a joke. So later that night when I went home, my mom and I both were not worried because we both know that this was all blown out of proportion with the crazy animals we know as moms dads and other family members. But when it was almost 2 hours before dinner time and the lights went out, we began to worry. I know from past power outages you don’t open the fridge unless you have to and there’s not a lot of hot water *blah blah blah* but it was only going to last for a few hours… After waking up the next 2 mornings freezing cold from the second day without power, almost all of our food had perished, there was no more hot water, and there was no TV, or charged cellphones, or laptops. Just an empty, frozen house.
So we left and went to my grandma’s bringing clothes for a week and all the food that we still had. The drive to get there was what made me realize that this was not a joke anymore. Houses were destroyed, cars were smashed, and live wires ran wild across the streets. Tree hung on the telephone wires just barely to stay out of the streets. To get out of St. James we had to actually drive under a huge tree suspended maybe 10 feet off the ground my some dead, flimsy wires. This hurricane was no longer a joke; it was a reality that nobody wanted to experience.
She never lost power so the warmth from the heat and the oven hit us right as we walked in. Not that I was complaining but our house was an icebox and this was a nice change of scenery. One thing I didn’t realize was how nice it was to have lights… At night especially. So for 4 days we stayed at my grandmas with heat, lights and warm showers. But when we returned to our house when power was restored all was good and back to normal with some wires and trees down or cut. It was a lot worse than I realized it was going to be and sometimes I still think about what would happen if I took it too loosely.
To be honest I didn’t really think anything of the hurricane when I first heard about it. I thought to myself oh this would be nothing, power will be out like 2 days, it’ll rain, be a little windy, and a few trees will fall down. Just like every other storm we have it will surely turn out to be nothing. So we set up everything we needed put our mattresses in the living room, a Dillman family tradition, and prepared to wait out the storm. As I sat in my living room the night of the storm I hear the pounding of the trees, the whistling of the wind, and the sound of a television in the distance. A little while later the T.V is the only one that turns silent with the storm ravaging outside. I try to make myself go to sleep the only thing that makes time go quicker in a storm like this, however that was soon interrupted by a flash that light up the entire night sky. There would be 2 to 3 more of these throughout the night. It seems like when you want to sleep late you never can and when you have something to do you always want to sleep later. The day after the storm had passed I wanted to walk around town and see what had happened. To my surprise there was no cell service. So I started to walk to my friend’s house I felt like a little kid again like I couldn’t just text my friend I had to go to his house and ask if he could come on a walk. On my walk I noticed first 3 things how peoples lawns were already perfect again, the giant trees that laid on people’s houses, and the power lines that laid across the road completely snapped. I searched for cell service and when I found it I abused it as much as possible. I sent text to my friends asking if they were ok and if they needed help with anything. And this is then when I realized this had been a lot worse than I had thought. I felt helpless like there was nothing I could do we had to just play the waiting game the old school way, no generator, no hot water, and no gas oven. My mom implemented a policy of having to be home before dark which again took me back to my youth. This continued for a few days till finally one morning I decided to go running in the nature preserve behind Nesaquake. It was more like a warzone then a nature preserve ,but I thought it was a good way to pass time when I got back to east, where I departed from , my phone started ringing and my sister said “we have power” this is probably the happiest I’ve ever been. My legs felt brand new like I hadn’t just come back from a 5 mile run I sprinted home to enjoy the power. I soon took a hot shower and texted my friends saying if any of them needed anything they could come over take a hot shower and just enjoy electricity. From all of this it shows me that you need to help others while they are in need cause someone always has it worse off than you.
Witnessing Hurricane Sandy was probably the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. Seeing and hearing about all the devastation, the families who lost their homes, and those who lost their loved ones. My personal experience with this storm wasn’t that bad. There were a lot of tree that fell in my yard. One taking out my mail box, and three others that took down my fence. I did, just like everyone else did throughout that day, lost power at exactly 4:30 pm. But the advantage of living off a busy road, Lake Avenue, I only lost it for about 12 hours which I am extremely grateful for that. Trying to keep myself buys was the worst part, played every board game I own at least twice. Disney Monopoly, Guess Who, checkers, twister. Driving around the day after the storm and see all the devastation of trees split in half, trees that took out cars, houses, fences, its honestly heart breaking. But nothing compares to those who live closer down by the water. Hundreds of people and families are without homes. But meanwhile with this whole incident with gas, it’s brought out the worst in everyone. People are fighting, getting killed, and acting like complete idiots. Four days after the storm has ended trying to go food shopping was a disaster, there is no ground meat to be found and there is barely bread on the shelves. Seeing how people react now and thinking how much worse it would get if we were short on something else important like water. The world would just go downhill from there if people keep acting like the way they do.
Disasters bring out the best and worst of us. Going back to Katrina, which may be the most devastating natural disaster to ever hit America, the country as a whole seemed to band together to help those in need. There were numerous telethons and fundraisers for the victims and people from all over traveled down there to help out. Now there were many other things people did that were not so nice, people looted stores, robbed peoples’ homes, and made this already horrible situation worse. Now , if I were to decide if humans were naturally evil or good, I would say it’s split. There’s no way that the people who are helping out covering up their kind deeds, they do it because it’s the right thing to do. Hurricane Sandy, to me, was the same as Katrina but slightly better. Personally, all I lost was power and it didn’t really affect me. I have a lot of blankets to stay warm, a small generator to power appliances and a loving family that never fell apart. Yes, it was annoying to wait on those gas lines but you do what you have to do. In Smithtown, we were not affected close to as bad as the south shore. They lost their homes, have no running water, and are very low on food. In order to help these people there are already food drives in places that were hit by Sandy, but not as bad. Then there are the crazed people who shoot one another over a fight at a gas station; it makes you wonder what civilization is coming to. The next day you hear about millions raised by a charity concert and your mind is altered again. This leaves me, again, with the conclusion that good and evil is split down the middle. I think that times of duress bring out our true self and it depends on who you are, will you be that evil person, or lend a helping hand and spread some good through the world? Society will remain the same, these are just speed bumps in our normal society, and you go over them slowly and with caution in order to make a smooth transition to the next flat.
Hurricane Sandy has really brought everything into perspective for me. It made me realize what is truly important in my life and how lucky I really am. Hurricane Sandy was very scary and during the storm I watched the trees around my house shake and wave back and forth. We played board games and card games with the camping lantern right next to us. When it was too dark to do anything else, my family and I gathered on the couches to watch movies on our laptops. We were fortunate enough to only have trees fall in the backyard and not on the house. The damage was pretty bad; however, it can all be fixed and replaced. I got power back around 2:00 a.m. Thursday, November first. I was so relieved and excited to finally be able to switch on the light in the bathroom and be able to see my food as I ate dinner. During this storm, some people weren’t so fortunate and lost everything they’ve ever worked for. This hurricane did a little bit of everything to people. For my family and neighbors, it brought us even closer. We helped each other out by getting rid of trees that fell on people’s property, houses, and/or cars. We also collected food, clothing, and toiletries for those who lost their homes and everything else. However, it also brought the monster out of others. People lost their patience and even their sanity because they had no gas, heat, or power. Because of Hurricane Sandy, we should all learn that coming together as a community is extremely important. Fighting with others over gas and causing problems doesn’t fix anything but rather makes things worse.
Before Hurricane Sandy’s wrath diminished the lands of the north eastern coast, I honestly attempted convincing myself that my household was never going lose power. Unfortunately my positive thoughts concerning the storage of power were utterly demolished; seeing that I lost all sources of energy in my house about three hours into the storm. I managed to cope with the power loss nicely overall, for I enjoyed how my entire family was finally together at home for once. The bondage of my family during this disaster was what kept me occupied; I truly forgot how entertaining they can be. Sadly enough, studying s.a.t vocab words became joyful because these was not much to do without power; other than watching wax burn on the plethora of candles throughout my household. My area gained power back fairly quick compared to the rest of the island which I was extremely grateful for. I witnessed stubborn people among the streets asking LIPA to come to their house for power. The LIPA workers are obviously putting in their best efforts to spread the power gains back, but most people do not understand that due to the anger that overrode their common sense. I learned to greatly appreciate my basic house hold objects once my power was restored, but that appreciation quickly faded by the next day. This storm has influenced me to take extreme advantage of the family I am provided with, because there is going to be that day where I am on my own and getting everyone together will become challenging as time moves on. This storm had brought out the true character in most people, for there were individuals taking any measures to gain their needs. To the common eye these people were seen as “evil” and “wreck less”, but that isn’t the way I see it. No matter how far technology continues to expand among our human race, the basic and original mindset of life will always be “survival of the fittest.” I believe our future holds a substantial amount of families investing in generators for the most part; but other than that I believe that provisions concerning our countries gasoline amount will be taken into much greater consideration. This event of chaos should help us all learn how deeply we should appreciate the loved ones around us rather than the loved objects that we feed off of daily. Our society seems slightly damaged due to this storm because most people now realize what some are willing to do in order to survive.
Before Hurricane Sandy I can say that I definitely wasn’t expecting the outcome that came true. Without power for 12 days, I have realized how important it is to be thankful for the little things in life. But although it was a struggle to get by without power, I also realized how blessed I should feel that I didn’t lose someone special to me or my home! Many people all over Long Island are being forced to condemn their homes and start from scratch. Here is where I believe it is our chance to help these people whose lives have been damaged so severely. I believe it is important for us, as lucky citizens who only lost power, to help donate and contribute to a better future for these people who lost so much more. Although Hurricane Sandy will require a lot of time, effort, and repair in a way it does bring together the nation in my opinion. People all over the world will help contribute to better lives for these unfortunate people, just like everyone did for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. In the future, I am worried for the future storms to come, only because I have heard they will be more powerful, but I do believe we will all be more prepared. Going forward I believe that our society is better off because of the hardships we faced this week. Looking back on 12 days with no power I feel so lucky to finally live normally again, in a warm house, with warm showers, the ability to provide dinner, and to have lights. During the storm I was forced to do things out of the ordinary just to get by. Every day I had to drive 30 minutes to my Grandmas just to take a warm shower, I had to go to the library almost every day just to use a working computer and get Wi-Fi to work on college applications, and almost every night my family had to go out to dinner just to get a hot food. Sometimes I felt as though in my 46 degree house I could see my breath because of how cold it was. This hurricane definitely caused more spending on gas, food, time, and effort in my family, but I do realize that it could have been much worse…
My mother’s best friend who lives in Long Beach lost their entire home. Because of the flooding in their house and the bacteria that spread they will most likely be forced to condemn their house and lose everything they left there. I hope that my family can do something to help her and her 17 year-old daughter. Whether it is donating food, clothes, money or anything I truly hope we can make a difference for them in this hard time in which they must start from scratch. At a time like this I hope everyone who was lucky enough to just lose power appreciates that and takes the time to help others who have lost almost everything.
My first experience with Hurricane Sandy began when my mother and I ran to the supermarket to get Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. The second we walked in, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Almost every single aisle was empty. The bread aisle especially didn't have one loaf left. This definitely scared me for what was to come. Then, when I found out we had no school Monday and Tuesday, I realized that this storm might be more serious than I first thought. Monday at exactly 3:56 p.m., my power went out, and stayed out for a full seven days. Sitting in my house with my family, huddled together on the couch, we listened to the radio as we watched the trees whip around in the wind. On Wednesday when we woke up, my dad and I decided to go for a drive to see the damage that was done by the storm. When I saw the massive trees, power lines, and telephone poles down in the road, I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes. By the looks of all the damage, I honestly thought I wasn’t going to get my power back until Thanksgiving. We had no power, no hot water, and no service. I was actually shocked when I first found out that people lost their life in the storm. And to this day, I still can’t believe Fire Island, and the Jersey Shore got swept away. Not only that, but the South Shore got hit so hard that many people lost their homes. Even though living without power for seven days was hard enough, I can’t imagine what some people had to go through when they came back to discover their house was destroyed. I am so thankful that my family was safe throughout the storm, and my heart goes out to all those who lost a loved one or their home.
To entertain ourselves in the dark, my mom and I would play battleships by candlelight, and I would work on my college essays on my laptop. And not to mention Halloween was the most boring night of my life ... But I was so thankful when I found out all my early action deadlines were extended due to Hurricane Sandy. By around Friday, my dad’s office building had power and Internet access, so my mom, dad, and I stayed their for most of the time. Once I submitted all my applications that were due, I spent most of my time relaxing or hanging out with friends. One night in particular, I actually had friends come to my dad’s office to play board games and watch T.V. Hurricane Sandy was definitely an interesting experience, and I will remember it for the rest of my life.
Hurricane Sandy has been hard on Long Island, and I never thought the hurricane was going to hit so hard. Today is the 13th day of having no power, and it's really hard for my family. I’m the oldest of four kids, and I’ve had to watch them a lot during this whole ordeal. My youngest brother who’s six is taking this really hard, because he doesn’t want to see by flashlight anymore. It's also freezing in my house, and I don't have a fireplace or a generator to make it warm. LIPA keeps telling us that we might not get power back until Thanksgiving, but that really annoys me because of the fact that out of state workers were shipped in from places like California and Hawaii, which means that we should have an ample amount of workers. I've seen tons of trucks around my town, yet I haven't seen one on my block. It almost feels as though LIPA is trying to elongate the project for their benefit. I know that I will eventually get my power back, but other people aren’t as lucky, because they lost their houses and cars. A family friend who lived in Breezy Point lost his house in the hurricane, because the waves completely turned his house to rubble. He lost everything from family pictures to his car. Another disgusting thing is the gas situation. I've witnessed some ugly experiences while waiting in gas lines, from people fist fighting to cutting in line. My mom and I were waiting at our local gas line for gas, and this one guy behind us gets out of his car, and tells my mom to let him go first. My mom got out of her car, and told him to get lost, and he surprisingly did. The real issue is about how people can become savages, and be desperate for a silly thing like gas. I really don’t understand why people are getting so nervous about gas, because it can always be shipped in a couple of days. New York State finally came to their senses and implemented odd even gas rationing, which will hopefully bring the line nonsense to an end. We need to learn from this event that people need to stick together and overcome fears about shortages, because people could start to kill for what they want. If we don’t fix our community now, then we’ll have major issues in the future.
I was very blessed during this natural disaster called hurricane Sandy. My family was fortunate enough to have bought a generator last year after hurricane Irene. So this year when my mother heard that there was going to be a hurricane she was at little more at ease. With the generator we could power the refrigerator, deep freezer, and a few other things. So my mom only had to worry about getting some water no actually a lot of water she bought about four cases of water bottles and about 4 gallons of water. She also took Ziploc bags and filled them with ice so that when the refrigerator did get turned off when we put the generator in the garage for the night the food wouldn’t get bad. The power went out at around 4:30 on Monday. And we sat in the dark for a little while trying to get a radio on while my dad got the generator ready and plugged the refrigerator into the generator. Once we got that running in my dad was looking at the manual for the generator and then we were able to plug the deep freezer, the TV, and the cable box which was connected to the Wi-Fi. And fortunately, I still had hot water which I was so thankful for. Although I was taking showers in the dark, at least I still had hot water. On Tuesday we had about four or five families including a few neigbhors come over to my house many of them took showers and we all helped my mother cook food for everyone. We had about 15 adults and 9 kids ages varying from 3-19 we were all playing games, walking to the park, watching movies, and just talking joking around with each other. The only thing that really affected me was the temperature drop at night especially since there is a place in my wall where an air conditioner used to be and now there are only a few pieces of wood but, there is an insane draft coming from that area. So at night I would sleep with two quilts not to mention, the two pairs of socks, leggings, sweatpants, tank top, long-sleeve shirt, and sweatshirt. On Wednesday we still went out trick or treating I took my 3 year old sister around the neighborhood . she actually got a lot of candy so of course I helped myself to some of it because she couldn’t possibly eat all of that candy. We got our power back on Thursday and at the time I wasn’t home I was at another family friends house because they got power back the night before. After the storm there was very little cleanup luckily my mom filled up both cars with gas and our spare tanks. We only had to pick up some leaves.
After hurricane Sandy roared through the east coast, tearing apart the Jersey Shore and Long Island’s, shores absolute devastation was prominent. Many shared feelings of frustration, fear, and substantial loss. Thousands of people stand in front of their once called homes that were now nothing more than a skeletal foundation or just a flight of stairs. Streets are flooded with ominous waters trapping people in their homes. Waves had crashed against homes from the intense storm surge and high tide because of the full moon and the hurricane force winds. Those homes show such an image of wreckage. It brought about a reminder of similar events like hurricane Katrina or even 9/11 because of the devastation no one expected. Sandy definitely made her mark in LI history. Almost all residents Jersey, Long Island and New York’s burros lost power the night of the storm. They remained in darkness as the mighty super storm, Sandy, trudged on battering not only the coastlines with water, but also areas inland with hurricane force winds. Trees were toppled over with ease while people sat in their homes in fear that the trees could hit their houses. After the storm was over, all is quiet. Streets are now pitch black and people rush to seek shelters. Devastation was immediately determined. Many people have experienced the storm in different ways depending on where they live. Those who lived on the coast obviously experienced huge damages to their homes from flooding. Living more inland, I experienced strong windy toppling trees. 90% of Long Island was without power leaving people in the dark and cold after this strong storm. On top of dealing with the storm I and my family mourned the loss of my beloved grandmother who passed the night of the storm. The storm now lay behind us as the least of our worries as we mourned our loss in complete and utter darkness. Power didn't matter. The days following the storm were cold and difficult. When I thought about it, I knew that people who lived on the shoreline had it so much worse than us. They lost everything. It is nothing compared to some trees down and no power. In times like this family is very important. I was so thankful to get power back 10 days later just before the winter nor ‘easter. I couldn’t stop thinking about what many people were still going through. Organizations began to help these people by giving them food, water, shelter and warmth. That was a perfect example of a positive response by people. People coming together to help can be very powerful. Another thing that amazed me was the way that neighbors came together to help each other. I experienced that first-hand. I saw my dad with my neighbors cutting up trees to get them off of people’s lawns in the neighborhood. Such a disaster brought people together for good. When disasters like this happen humans do come forward and together to help. A good human nature response. However, not everyone responds in that way. It was shown that the evil inside some people came out because of the panic of the storm. Fights broke out on gas lines which I think is ridiculous. That is something that we would see in a science-fiction movie about the end of the world. It’s unbelievable to see what it takes to make some people go completely insane. I will never forget my experience from this storm, especially seeing what people are capable of in such a disaster both good and bad.
Before Hurricane Sandy I really thought it was just another mistake by a weatherman’s predictions. I didn’t take the precautions I should have taken but luckily my mother, who is as dramatic as could be, bought a year’s supply of nonperishable foods and flashlights. The day of the hurricane I was enjoying all my luxuries and thankfully listened to my mom when she told me to charge my phone and my laptop. Out of nowhere I received text after text from my friends saying they lost their power, and then reality hit that I would soon lose mine too. I thought it was going to be over in 2 days but no, it lasted 9 days for me. The days weren’t so bad because I caught up on my homework and slept a lot. My work had a generator so for the first time I was actually happy to go to work. I waited 3 hours on a gas line and I wanted to pull my hair out because I was so bored. Nights weren’t so bad because I actually went to my friends’ houses and they had generators. I slept out four of the five nights. The nights I was home my brother and I played cards and bored games by candle light. I recognized when I was on the gas line that people become savages when they can’t get what they want. I believe that in the future if a major catastrophe happens that people would become insane and make everything worse. From this event I learned to not take the simple things in life, like water, food, and shelter, for granted.
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