Hurricane Sandy photos
The storm hit New Jersey on Monday night, October 29, 2012. We stayed indoors. In the aftermath, I took a few photos. It took some time for me to heal and to process the emotions, before I felt ready to look at them. Given it's been two-and-a-half weeks, it's a Facebook-lifetime away and I didn't think I should post there and rehash everything. So I'm posting here in my personal journal as a way to collect my memories and document my emotions.
This is a tree down on my neighbor's car. My car is in the same parking lot, less than 10 cars away. There were many down trees, and the ground was scattered with wet leaves. The air was eerily quiet.
Many trees were ripped right from the roots. In past storms, we've seen a branch or two snap off a large tree; but never before have I seen so many trees, HEALTHY TREES, uprooted. This large cherry tree that stood adjacent to our parking lot, it fell in the parking lot. There were many more like it.
This is a photo of our docks; it is completely destroyed. We used to come down here at least three or four times a week, regardless of season. We'd fish off the pier, we'd pull up lines to check for crabs, we'd peer into the water looking for fish hiding in the shadows. We'd sit in the sun (there were lounge chairs) to soak up the rays in the summer, we'd run up and down the docks with Kade laughing. The docks are knocked off their pilings.
When we retreated to my mother-in-law's house, I took a few days to assess our situation, recuperate mentally and emotionally. A week into our stay, I took a walk down to the nearest gas station in town. I found over 50 people in line, with police presence to ensure that no riots broke out and nobody tried to take buy more than was allowed. There had been cases of gun-wielding desperate individuals attempting to refuel their generators to keep warm. I spoke to some people near the front of the line: they said they had been waiting for over three hours in the cold.
When we returned periodically to check on our home, police blockades were in effect in our town for 2+ weeks after the hurricane. Cars were required to show Resident ID to enter our town. There is a mandatory curfew from 7 PM to 7 AM. This was all lifted only two days ago.
This is a tree down on my neighbor's car. My car is in the same parking lot, less than 10 cars away. There were many down trees, and the ground was scattered with wet leaves. The air was eerily quiet.
Many trees were ripped right from the roots. In past storms, we've seen a branch or two snap off a large tree; but never before have I seen so many trees, HEALTHY TREES, uprooted. This large cherry tree that stood adjacent to our parking lot, it fell in the parking lot. There were many more like it.
This is a photo of our docks; it is completely destroyed. We used to come down here at least three or four times a week, regardless of season. We'd fish off the pier, we'd pull up lines to check for crabs, we'd peer into the water looking for fish hiding in the shadows. We'd sit in the sun (there were lounge chairs) to soak up the rays in the summer, we'd run up and down the docks with Kade laughing. The docks are knocked off their pilings.
When we retreated to my mother-in-law's house, I took a few days to assess our situation, recuperate mentally and emotionally. A week into our stay, I took a walk down to the nearest gas station in town. I found over 50 people in line, with police presence to ensure that no riots broke out and nobody tried to take buy more than was allowed. There had been cases of gun-wielding desperate individuals attempting to refuel their generators to keep warm. I spoke to some people near the front of the line: they said they had been waiting for over three hours in the cold.
When we returned periodically to check on our home, police blockades were in effect in our town for 2+ weeks after the hurricane. Cars were required to show Resident ID to enter our town. There is a mandatory curfew from 7 PM to 7 AM. This was all lifted only two days ago.