Where to begin.....
Hurricane Sandy has rocked our world. Something we thought would be a passing storm, possibly one that caused our electric to go out for a few hours has left us homeless, neighborhoodless and for so many, caused them to loose almost everything. Let the story begin:
Sunday Oct 28th- Chris and I were wrapping up a relaxing weekend away out on the Northfork of Long Island. We had been hearing reports of the impending Hurricane Sandy, but after evacuating for Hurricane Irene, we decided we'd ride this one out. We picked up the kids at my Moms and heard that NYC was shutting down the transit system as of 7pm that Sunday night. Picking up 4 cans of soup from my mom, we headed back into the city. We arrived around 6:30pm and Chris rushed around to any open stores to pick up some "essentials" for the house. Stores were crowded with groups of 20 somethings picking up cases of beer, and maybe a bag of chips. Obviously we weren't the only ones who were riding this one out.
Monday Oct 29th- Dawned a bit gray and windy. Chris's office was closed for the day and Jocelyn and I headed up to Duane Reade that was still open and picked up some more essentials- nail polish and some candles. I didn't buy too many though and I didn't like the scents they offered. Again, a lot of people milling around buying candy bars or chips. The beer aisle was empty, but plenty of food on the shelves. The Superintendent of our building called around 11am letting us know he was shutting down the elevator until after the storm.
The wind started picking up during the day and the 4 of us tried to walk over to the river to see how high it was getting, but were turned away by police stationed along the waterfront. J's hat blew right off her head and the wind almost knocked us down. We decided we'd spend the rest of the day inside.
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| Enjoying some dance party and hanging out- no idea what was about to occur |
We put the kids down to sleep right before 7pm, and as we came back into the living room, we saw water creeping up the alley way next to our building. We had been warned by Con Ed that they would shut down power if the streets flooded to protect the power grid. I quickly emailed my girlfriends in the area letting them know some minor flooding had started and to expect electricity to be turned off. Within 2 minutes, the lights flickered and went off.
Chris wanted to go see what the front of the building looked like (it faced the river) and headed down the stairs with a flashlight to take a look. I stood out on the balcony and watched the water go from trickling down the alley way, to rushing onto Water street and a quickly increasing rate.
Chris was back up stairs within 5-10 mins and said the water had reached our first step, and had begun to flood the basement. He took a video of it coming into the laundry room at a very fast rate. I grabbed the flashlight and headed downstairs. By the time I reached 6 flights down, the water had reached the 3rd out of 4 steps. It had broken the lobby doors glass and was rising fast. One of the women on the first floor, Susan, was still down there and I was able to convince her that it was time to leave. We went into her apartment to grab her cell phone and keys and she showed me how she had almost everything off the floor. As we left her apartment, the water started gushing through the lobby door and up from the basement door at the same time. Within seconds the lobby floor was flooded and rising fast.
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| Lobby Door. Very thick glass that was shattered like it was nothing. |
Susan went to an apartment on the 5th floor and I headed upstairs. Chris was out on the balcony watching the water now flowing down Water street, breaking glass and beginning to throw items in the stores around. Jenny lived in an apartment down the hall from us that faced the water and from her window we watched SUV's spin around in the water that reached over it's roofs and water break the glass of the AIG building. Back out on our balcony, the sound of the wind whipping down the blocks was a sound we will never forget, nor will we forget the feeling of utter dread as we watched the waters continue to rise. We didn't realize it then, but waters would reach 8 feet on the streets below. To us, 6 floors up, it just looked like an ocean below.
We watched security workers in the buildings across from us
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| We watched this SUV twist and twirl around in the water. Tossed around like it was a toy. Amazing, that by daylight, it just looks like a mis-parked car. The first floor of our building is at least 4 feet from ground level, and the water came up 4 feet inside the lobby, for a total of 8 feet. |
The water never got above the NY Sports Club written on the windows across the street and after a few hours of agonizing over what was happening around us, and wondering how our family was faring, we crashed into our beds around mid-night.
Morning dawned very gray and windy and we were anxious to get outside to see what damage had occurred. Just from our balcony, we could see how the stores blow had fared, and it didn't look good for our neighborhood.
We bundled the kids up and started the walk down the 6 flights of stairs in pitch black. There is nothing like walking down stairs in blackness so think you can't even see your hand in front of you. Very sobering.
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| 8 foot water marks down on Paris Cafe |
Upon reaching the lobby, we were hit with the smell of mud, the feeling of moisture and the sight of destruction. The lobby was full of mud and the poor people who lived on the first floor had their apartments completely ruined. Walking down Front Street towards the Seaport was at first, almost exciting. We were anxious to see what happened, but the feeling quickly turned to dis-belief and then complete sorry as we met shop and restaurant owners that we knew that were just staring at their life's work in ruin. It still brings tears to my eyes.
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| Barbarini. Locally owned, an Italian grocery and restaurant, completely destroyed. It was so heart breaking to watch the owner in tears that I couldn't bring myself to photograph any of it except for the outside. |
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| The inside of the Coach store. Merchandise thrown about all over the floor. |
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| The smashed windows of Superdry, also on Front Street (our St) |
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| It almost appears that Brookstone went unscathed, until you realize there is no window there in the front. Notice the sandbags. Would have worked if there was only a foot or two of water. |
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| Water powerful enough to take down light poles |
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| The inside of Aresoles. Seaweed hanging off the shoes. |
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| Fulton Street- South Street Seaport. The surging water broke every stores windows and merchandise and clothes could be found strewn all over the streets. |
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| Chris standing at the water line on one of the buildings- a touch over 6 feet. |
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| Clothing strewn about on window sills from Anne Taylor |
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| The front window completely gone at this local coffee shop |
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| A bench that normally would be on the waters edge, found 3 blocks away. Again, the force of the water was amazing. |
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| Some of the windows we listened to smash |
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| One of the last deli's in our area to close the night of the hurricane. They stayed open so the security workers in the buildings would have a place to get hot food out. Completely flooded out. |
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| These stairs led into the basement level of New York Sports club where the locker and weight rooms would be found. Water right up to the top. |
