So… there’s a hurricane coming today. Hurricane Sandy. The news has been almost all-weather related for the last 36 or so hours. A civilian boater already had to do one rescue of a juvenile surfer out in Sea Bright, NJ. (His father actually drove him to the beach to surf!) I thought for sure that was going to be the first U.S. fatality.
I just received a text message about 15 seconds ago that my work (a college) was closed for the next two days. Problem is, I am “on call” and required to go in and open up the library – unless we are told to stay off the roads or the bus system doesn’t run. Hrm… [Edited to add: I have since been told to stay home both days.]
Last year during Hurricane Irene I lost power for about 4 – 5 hours. Not bad. During the October snowstorm, however, I (and about 25% of my town) lost power for 4 days.
Here are some random pictures I took today:
Leaf-covered path. In this particular section, most of the leaves have fallen off the trees in the last few days. Which is a good thing in terms of trees coming down. But a lot of the trees are still full of leaves.
Window decorations in a local restaurant which flooded horribly during Hurricane Irene and was closed for almost 4 months. (The windows read “GO AWAY SANDY”.)
The creek which flooded the restaurant (on the left you can see the side of the restaurant). It floods pretty easily – Marco and I went to the mall once during a torrential downpour and it was almost to the top.
The Shoprite parking lot. Just take my word for it – it was pretty much full. It reminded me of shopping the day before Thanksgiving.
The water aisle in Shoprite. Yikes.
The managers of Shoprite were pretty smart – they removed most of the extra displays that normally clutter the area in front of the checkout lines. This helped to remove most of the congestion. What else helped – all checkout lines were open, and a worker was directing people to open aisles to keep the wait down.
This storm is 1000 miles wide. NYC has already ordered evacuations of “zone A” areas. All public NYC schools are closed.
But I live about 25-30 miles inland (roughly) and there’s not much risk of flooding in this part of town as I live on top of a somewhat steep hill. There are areas of my town which are prone to flooding, however.
I am pretty much prepared. The freezer only has ice cream and one hamburger patty left in it, pretty much. The fridge is similarly empty of perishable foods. I did get some rice and soup in case I don’t lose power (since I don’t have a stove, I am very limited in my food options otherwise). Other things I bought were crackers, chips, and granola bars.
Should be an interesting morning.
Life in the Hague 