We had decided to stay in the house during the storm (despite the warnings to evacuate) because seriously... when do the weathermen actually get it right?! At low tide on Monday, October 29th (the day of the storm) the water was up to our front door. J and I knew that it was going to come in at that point so we spent the morning and afternoon moving everything upstairs (or rather everything that we could move upstairs). In the 50 years that our house has been standing, it's never seen water in its first floor. Yea, we're used to the crawl space getting filled up and the garage getting water. We even prepare for this by raising everything in the garage up on cinderblocks and opening the garage door to allow the water in and out with the tide. Other storms cooperated nicely like Irene in August 2011. But Sandy, she didn't want to go with the flow. Here’s a shot of our house at low tide at 10 am, October 29th.
Here's a shot of our neighbor getting stuck on his lawn... btw, in case you were wondering, that's the street not the canal...
Around 2pm we smell something burning and find that the boiler, oil heater and laundry machines were already getting wet with salt water and sewage (so much for the clothes I had in the dryer…). The bathroom/boiler room in our house that was 3 steps down, was already under 2 feet of water. J threw on his waders and went down into the area to turn off the emergency switch. We then proceeded to shut off the electric to the bottom half of the house and J went outside to shut the propane tanks. NOTE to all you "why didn't you evacuate earlier" folks... If we would have left the day before, we would have not known to turn off thes items and our house would have been on fire. Now, let's move on, shall we?
By 4pm, we had turned off all power to the home and were evacuating our house, wading through waist-high water, in fierce wind and rain. It was nice that a block away there were volunteers in motorboats driving people out of the area. Only they weren't using the canals if you know what I mean. Yes, the girls and I took a rescue boat 4 blocks up to where my mom was waiting with her truck. We had already evacuated our cars up to higher ground the night before (good thing too because there were cars and trucks all stuck in the water at the corner of our block). At the time I was freaking out to new levels… I was taking my babies out in a hurricane.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO!
At that point, we should have stayed put but my dad pounding on our front door said otherwise. In hindsight, I wish we would have stayed. I would have been able to save more stuff and perhaps prevented the other things that occurred but we’ll get to that in a future post.
For now, let's talk about “saving stuff”...
-- begin rant--
So many people that didn’t lose “stuff” in the storm have told me “you can always replace your stuff”. I actually hate that response (sorry people who are trying to be helpful). It doesn’t help, especially if it’s coming from someone who isn’t in my situation. Our stuff is a culmination of our life. We gather stuff to remind us of events, to celebrate times in our life and to reward ourselves for a job well done. When J and I invest in a purchase, we do so in a calculated manner (more because of him than me but just sayin). We don’t just buy “junk” that can be replaced! You cannot replace the couch that took us 4 months to find and 8 months to receive and that we’re still paying off on a credit card! You can’t replace it because we dedicated time to this purchase… time isn’t replaceable! So… for all of you thinking I’m being materialistic… try, just try to put yourself in my shoes (I know you can’t because I know I was never able to do this until now). Try to itemize out all the “stuff” in your house. You know what, just try to do one room… put it in a spreadsheet… identify where it was purchased, what it cost and how long ago you obtained the item. Now imagine that you have to do that for your entire house. Now estimate the time you took to purchase each of these items. Next actually go to the store(s) and buy the items. Now try and tell me that “stuff” doesn’t matter.
--end rant--
Now back to the original story. So, we leave the house in the middle of the storm with no idea what would happen to our life that we built. Liv will tell you that the evacuation was “scary” and that she was “freezing the whole time” and that she “got wet with cold water” which all is true. I had Ella in my jacket so she was pretty much covered but Liv is much bigger and she just had a hooded sweater on because we didn’t think to bring her winter coat out. So, J was struggling to hold her and hold up his waders (oh… btw… I walked in the friggin cold water without waders but my fivefingers worked well :)). He handed her off to me in the rescue boat but there was no blanket to cover her from the wind and rain. I unzipped my jacket to try to loop her into Ella and my warmth. At this point (you mom’s will understand this), I was SO ANGRY AT EVERYONE who agreed to take MY BABIES out in the storm. Liv was freezing and terrified! All of this could have been avoided if we just remained in the house and stayed upstairs. Yea, we wouldn’t have power… but we wouldn’t have been in a life threatening situation either! I was thinking the kids were going to get hurt. I was nervously laughing with the volunteers that boated us out of there telling them to hurry before a tree fell… I think they thought I was crazy… they’d be right about that. I was crazy for listening to everyone else who told me what to do to protect my kids and not trusting my parenting skills and ever so trusty gut. NEVER AGAIN will I allow that to happen. Ok, so that rant is over too… (insert nervous lol here).
In my mom’s truck I realize that I lost my phone… wonderful. I go back into the storm and try to remember if I left it in the suitcase or in the house. I call J with my mom’s cell and he finds it in the house. Now, I was able to explain that situation in 3 sentences… I’ll tell you the frantic nature of this situation was to new levels. I was absolutely in a state of “LIVID”. Is that even a state? Well that’s what I was… angry, enraged, incensed… yes all those states too… bottle them up as one and throw in an Alka-Seltzer, shake it up and KABOOM! Yep, that’s how I was. The phone was the tipping point. (Side note: there’s a word for the fear of losing one’s mobile phone. I heard this on NPR one morning. It’s called “Nomophobia”.... I think I have this.)
The next few hours are a blur to me. I shower to get the filth of the seawater, oil, sewage, off of me. I try to get warm. I attempt to “move in” to my mom’s house. I attempt to console my children but the tough ol’ me was not there… I was out to lunch… missing in action… The terrible feeling of not knowing what was happening back at home was grating on me. I was simply not a nice person to be around. In hindsight I’m upset by this. I am pride myself in being rational at all times… although I may get loud… I’m still rational. I don’t think I was rational after this so when my mom started in on me with what I “shoulda” done… I went APE on her (is that a technical term?). Ok, another rant but it will be short. Let me explain to you who have not been through terrible situations (I say this in jest as I know everyone has been there one time or another). DO NOT EVER (never ever) try to explain to someone what they should have done when they are in a state of “LIVID”. That will only make them go “APE”. You really must be stupid if you think that suggesting what they should have done or could have done better will actually help them. Even the use of “should have” or “could have” should be means for hitting you over the head with a blunt object. K, I’m done… I think we all get it now.
The power flickers a few times at my parents’ house but it doesn’t actually go out for an extended period of time. We’re there with my aunt as well as her house was in the flood area too. Her kids are displaced as well but they all found "high-ground" to stay. I’m attempting to find out what is happening back home by logging into Facebook and pinging my neighbors. Around 5:30 pm, my neighbor across the street sends us this pic… the water has hit the top step. You can tell because the doormat is floating away in the picture. This means that it’s in the house… and it's not yet high tide.
Then we go dark.
To be continued…
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