Survived Hurricane Sandy - a week later

Wow.
Thank God.
Mr. Husband and I are doing well.
Our garage did flood
but we think the car will be okay.
As you can see from these pictures,
our town and street did flood,
much more than anyone
anticipated.

Our flowering plant bloomed again
in the midst of this time;
the first time was on the
Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God
and Mr. Husband and I both felt the flower
was to encourage us...

Having never lived through this sort of thing before,
I feel like I am still recovering from a minor
earthquake.
*
Our town was one of the hardest hit.
Many still do not have power
a week later
and it is getting cold.
*
Our power went on after 2.5 days
and it was getting cold.
Heat and light never seemed so good.

Most or all of the basements on our street
the highest in town
were flooded completely.
Ground floors were flooded
a foot or more.

The first morning and day after
were windy and cold.
*
I went out side for a bit
and talked to a few people;
there was very little dry pavement then...
*
We were all exhausted from sleeping poorly...
most of the cars were flooded and
the car alarms were shorting and honking
all night.
It was very eerie and seeing the water rising below
us at 10 at night was scary.

Mr. Husband and I were
with many others
in a mad rush to get anything in the garage out
ASAP.
*
No one expected it;
were were not in a flood zone normally;
late that afternoon we heard police urging everyone in a ground floor
apartment to evacuate;
Mr. Husband and I had just finished another chapter of
the Hobbit
which I got for him at Pascha time
when I looked out the window
and saw water on the street.
*
Storm serge was not a word
I had heard before this past week.
*
We went down to the garage and
the water was just coming up the drains.
Smelly sewage water.
We all worked like crazy;
the water was soon covering the floor and rising....

The whole town came together
parents watching the other's kids
so cleanup could begin;
tons of kids toys, books, furniture,
everything, thrown out on the curb
destroyed
by the flood waters and the
contamination.
*
Our building smelled of sewage when we opened our door
and it was so cold and the hallways
windowless and dark.

Across the way
this garage flooded the next morning
after the firemen had to open it
as the smell of gas was in the building.
Cars flooded, destroyed.

We were at one of the highest parts
so tons of people came
driving cars to our street in hopes of saving them.
*
A day or so later I texted Mat. Anna
as Mr. Husband and I walked in cold
down a street together
looking for batteries,
power to charge up our phones and food.
*
Not being able to communicate with people to let them
know that we were okay
was really hard and I knew
many were worried and were praying.
Mat. Anna graciously (thank you again!!!) did a blog post
on her blog to let others know that we
were okay...
*
The following nights were
hard to sleep as generators were going all night
loudly, to pump out water from
neighbour's basements...
*
I have more pictures, more stories, and
a lot of beautiful and good things to share about this time
as well as the hardness of it.
*
Mr. Husband and I went by a donation centre where
food, blankets, baby supplies were being given out.
Many people there,
just hoping to get what they need.
*
Many have lost everything,
many are still without power and are sleeping
under piles of blankets,
cold and tired.
*
I hope I never take the blessings of heat and light
so for granted again...