Sheltered (WIP)

Huricane Sandy

   Aah, I know. The most intense hurricane to hit Long Island in my lifetime. Now we were told the hurricane would be disastrous however they said this every hurricane and it just never turned out to be true. So a lot of people didn't evacuate their homes and had no fear of it. The year before hurricane Irene struck and around 3 people died (2 in a freak car accident) but other then that and a few trees down nothing real intense had happened. The media hyped us up for nothing. We had prepared for hurricane sandy (though we were pretty much safe where we lived) and we waited. Flash forward a few days and you can hear the howling of the wind outside the window. The fall leaves are flying everywhere as well as rain. Elsewhere on Long Island houses are flooding essentially creating a sea where the streets once were. People were kayaking and canoeing in the now flooded streets. On fire island most of the summer houses had been completed destroyed. In Long Beach there used to be a boardwalk where we would watch concerts. This boardwalk was completely swallowed by the ocean with nothing but some of the posts remaining. In some parts of Long Island people began looting. The looting had a lot to deal with media coverage. Whenever a news channel would run a report about severe damage in a certain neighborhood that is where the looters would target. In New York City the once busy subways had been flooded. For the first time in I believe 100 years the New York Stock exchange had been closed. Many people were evacuated by ambulance from one hospital to another just to be safe. Before long the hurricane itself had ended and it was now recovering from the damage that people had to deal with. Overall over 100 people had been killed throughout the hurricane. Many people were without power and communities became restless. People who had life support machines fortunately had power returned to them first to be safe. Even weeks later people would be without power. This made many people really mad at The Long Island power authority (LIPA). People were really upset, upset to the point someone made a cringy Gangam Style parody. Things took a much serious turn when LIPA workers were even being assaulted and battered. It took forever but eventually power was restored. The damage along the south shore itself was disastrous however. If you were lucky enough to live on one of the really expensive waterfront houses, well. You weren't lucky enough anymore. Those houses received the most damage, it would be more disastrous if your house wasn't raised or had a basement to collect the water. Many houses had to be demolished as a result. People were also paying afterwards to have their houses raised which involved actually lifting the house with cinder blocks. This costed lots of money but was a very crazy thing to see and I recall seeing it still happening two years later. My grandparents have a house in Oakdale. The basement had water flooding to the point the water level had reached the top of the stairs. Although most things in that basement at that time were totaled their house did not need to be demolished or raised. Even though their house was perfectly fine they decided to stay with us. For months, I can't even remember when they actually left. The thing that was annoying is they would eat on the couch and bugs were starting to infest the house. It might sound like I am overreacting but here's the thing. At their house my grandpa has (although he forgot) a system where he charges people to eat on his couch. First time he does not fine the person, second time he fines them $5, every time after that the fee is multiplied by five. So yeah we had to live with them for a while and it was not my happiest experience. Not necessarily my worst but not my best. It was some time though in hurricane sandy I forgot about my anxiety. It actually went away. I did have one day where I had a small stomach bug (but it went away). But my anxiety has vanished. I was free from it and it was nice. Before long it was Halloween, in fact the power was still out and it was cold. Time was going quick I suppose in some ways.