Hurricane Sandy

Wow One year already for me I remember the town I work for preparing for the storm days ahead. Point Pleasant Beach took a devastating hit. We at the the DPW worked right in the middle of the storm assisting people and protecting the town. I never in my life felt wind that strong or the ocean coming up to the train station thats five blocks up from beach. The destruction afterwards well i was lost for words. Many homes destroyed cars and boats floating all over sand on ocean ave. it took two weeks for the water to receed completetly. I remember like it was yesterday the clean up effort. people finally being aloud back to their homes and all their belongings gone. I remember hearing all the generators running for weeks in the town. The tree damage was amazing. people emptying out their homes and the dpw cleaning it all up. Truely an event I will remeber for the rest of my life. I will say this The town stayed strong and got cleaned up and ready for the summer season. An amazing jobby all in town way to go Point Pleasant Beach!

Frank,

Wow!! One year has passed since that most destructive storm that has changed so many lives and  things.

Memories: blogging and sending out the warning to all my friends and family warning them of what and how strong this storm would be; losing power for 10 days living like an 18th century farmer, having a power company from Michigan restore my power and sharing a beer and hot cup of coffee with them - God Bless those guys; waking up the morning after and listening to radio like my father did when he was a young boy and hearing only one radio station (the others were down)  and thinking "My God what a happened overnight" no cell phone service, no power, iphone nada - hearing the devastation being reported on the radio that the tunnels in NYC flooded, my sister texting me Mon night at 9PM saying her basement on 23rd street in NYC was flooding due to the Hudson coming up to her building between 9th and 10th Ave - the panic in her text message, the destruction of our beloved Jersey Shore, being out of school for 6 days, the snowstorm that followed; no trick or treaters, no damage to my abode (lucky me); the lack of rain ; the swirling winds and the death toll that certainly could have been avoided to the number who died if the NHC posted warnings; my friends house that was on 8' stilts above the shoreline in Port Monmouth,NJ had 6' of water surrounding them on Sunday, they evacuated and came home to 3' in their house from the water line - the amazing storm surge; the amount of trees that fell and the size of them.

The  tunnels flooded in NYC and the devastation at the beaches.

I did believe the euro and those of us on Channel 7 weather chat board being astonished of what we were all seeing with the model runs.

A incredible storm that each person who lived through it will remember for the rest of their lives!

Frank - you got that right buddy!!

And Skins - God Bless you and your mates cause it was an unbelievable challenge the work you guys had to do and you got it done down there - the resolve of the American people in such times!!

I was warning my friend the OEM coordinator of my town. I was on ambulance duty Monday night and I remember the wind. I went up to the ambulance building to stay there as long as I could, since I didn't know if I would get there with trees coming down. We had one call, but so many streets were blocked with trees it took us a long time to get to the house about a mile away. Thankfully she really didn't need the ambulance....we only lostpower for a few days, although a lot of the town was out for almost 2 weeks. My library where I work did not lose power so we became a warming and charging station...tons of surge protectors and extension cords so folks could charge their
laptops and cell phones...and not much rain. I remember standing outside in the peak winds and leaning into it, like you see people doing on tv...fun stuff!

Thanks guys appreciate you guys are great!

Quietace wrote:

Ace, 

Was this you with fiends walking through Point Pleasant (really not pleasant though)? How close are you to the beach?  Unbelievable footage and this was the day after she hit or the Sunday before? I ask because a few people I know had major flooding the Sunday morning and afternoon before she hit (made landfall). 
Thanks for the footage.

Mugs

amugs wrote:

Quietace wrote:

Ace, 

Was this you with fiends walking through Point Pleasant (really not pleasant though)? How close are you to the beach?  Unbelievable footage and this was the day after she hit or the Sunday before? I ask because a few people I know had major flooding the Sunday morning and afternoon before she hit (made landfall). 
Thanks for the footage.

Mugs

Mugs, this was a video of some  my uncles friends and their house they took the morning after sandy in Bay Head Nj, which is right next to both Point Pleasant's. The water line was about a foot lower than it was at the highest tide around 3 hours earlier. They were around 4 blocks from the beach. The water started rising 2 days before the storm hit and the flooding was only in the morning before sandy hit, but by the afternoon the water was steadily rising into the streets.

It really does seem like yesterday yet ironically it also seems like an eon ago.  Without question Sandy was a storm that we will all never forget. I was fortunate enough to not have been directly affected where I lived; however, some of my family and some very close friends lost everything over in Breezy Point. And they are still not even close to being rebuilt. Frank did I believe the euro? That's funny because I didn't at first, but it was actuall some of what Bobby M was saying 5-6 days out that made me start telling all my friends and fam to get gas and be ready.  I had my cars and my gas cans filled on Sunday night when the rain started moving in. The lines of gas on Long Island about 3 days after were unbelievable. Lines were literally MILES long and wait times were hrs. There were fights, and in one instance involved a machete, at a gas station around the corner of my house. We did have no power for almost a week.  With a 2 and a 4yr old that was a bit rough, but paled in comparison.  My wife and kids and i slept in our bed with sweatshirts and wool hats. Without question the most memorable storm in my life time.

I hope this link works because its my favorite link of Sandy's genisis from start to finish.

http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/goes/QTmovies/121023-31_sandy.mov

Dunnzoo wrote:I was warning my friend the OEM coordinator of my town. I was on ambulance duty Monday night and I remember the wind. I went up to the ambulance building to stay there as long as I could, since I didn't know if I would get there with trees coming down. We had one call, but so many streets were blocked with trees it took us a long time to get to the house about a mile away. Thankfully she really didn't need the ambulance....we only lostpower for a few days, although a lot of the town was out for almost 2 weeks. My library where I work did not lose power so we became a warming and charging station...tons of surge protectors and extension cords so folks could charge their
laptops and cell phones...and not much rain. I remember standing outside in the peak winds and leaning into it, like you see people doing on tv...fun stuff!

My recollections of problems caused by Sandy pale next to the poor folks down the shore who got beat up so badly.Yes, the guys and gals in rescue and rebuilding are true American heroes in every way, trying their best to save lives and property while risking their own.God Bless them all! Even though Sandy was the worst thing to happen here, it brought out the best of us all as Americans.Political, racial and religious divisions went out the window as everybody tried to help each other through.That's what's great about America, in times of crisis, we all come together ( WW II, 9/11, Sandy).The pictures of President Obama and Governor Christie,whether you like them or not,come to mind as a true bi-partisan effort to help NJ was brought to bear.

Anyway, as Dunz said,I will never forget that wind and the sound 80 MPH gusts makes whipping through 80 foot oak trees.The worst hit Mahwah around 8 to 10 PM.I went out the front door and heard and saw the wind and trees and literally, was scared sh---less.I grabbed a bottle of bourbon, headed for the basement and got drunk out of fear! Only time in 33 years here!Aftermath was horrible, no power for 8 days.Couldn't get gasoline for days because they had no power either.Frank's recollection of the generators blasting day and night come to mind.Eating at the local diner which luckily never lost power.Keeping the fireplace running three days straight so my pipes didn't freeze (it got cold).Only entertainment was listening to the radio.Seeing trucks and crews from many states repairing the damage.The joy at having my power back up and returning to normal with heat in the house.

I don't ever want to go through this again at my age (63).First thing I'm investing in when I move to my GF's house in Monroe NY next fall is buy and hook up a natural gas powered Generac generator big enough to power the entire house.

http://www.weca.org/SET/report/node6.html

This is eerily incredible - you need to check out this link - how insane!!!

You see that dry slot if NENJ - that was me and zoo - stil is today:D  

All kidding aside, I read on teh web that a presure was recorded by a buoy of 938MB 26 miles ots SE off of AC. I can not find any record meaning that it was tossed and the hurricane hunters data was kept of 941(?) or 943(?) I forget know. I can remember standing facingthe wind an dleaning into it like you see poepoel do in hurricanes - fun but also scary and the massive oak trees swirled around. Okay a weird thing happened - my sister walked out here apt on 23rd between 9 &10 th ave. Chelsea to see teh river coming up the block when she turned a gust of wind hit her knocked her glasses of and swept them up into the sky - not to the ground but up into the night.

Ne3ver even really noticed these were here so almost two years ago now I wil ltell my memories of this epic storm. When I saw the Euro I hit the fan, At first I was skeptical at a retrograde, did not ever recall seeing that. Then when it was split I said to myself as unlikely as that is the fact that its shown this it has to be true so yes I did believe the Euro about 6 days ahead of time. I warned all my work people and friends but only one person really believed me along with my wife. I got supplies together like water and a external battery charger for my cell. Come the day or two before just for fun I went to the gropcery store to see the panic. It was nuts. Some people were packing in like 20 cases of water into their SUV's and the store was almost empty. The lines were insame and I was just so happy I did everything way ahead of time. In the Bronx homelss people were selling used or new flashlights i nthe streets (never seen that before) and people were jumping on it. Glad they would get something to eat that night. Tha mayor of NY well you all know, his initial speech I wanted to through something at the TV. Then his follow-up with total change of heart was basically too late. Christie did really well and I loved his bit about we are not coming abck to get you! I was actually asked to come into work Monday morning but I opted not to as I was unsure how bad the drive home would be (I found out later everyone got sent home two hrs later, I should have gone in instead of giving up a vacation day). I went out every several hours and recorded the increawsing winds. We got very little rain it was basically a spreay the majority of the time. Then the trees started soming down and the blue and green flases from the ground as it got dark and our power had already gone out (5 days total, originally told it would be 11 by Con Ed). My wife was pregnant, not happy and cold. So was I but she was my main concern. No hot water, and fridge had already warmed despite packing it with ice. Next morning we did go to work, and I had never been so happy to be in a place with lights internet etc. Drove around i nthe afternoon to survey dmage which in Westchester was pretty extensive especially trees, and large ones at that. Some structural damage. THEN the gas shortage. OMG that was scary, there police, military presence. Fightsd at the gas stations peoples cars dying, I barely got back and forth to work and worried everyday I wouldn't get gas. We have a station down the street from us and because of the line we couldnt even get down our street. We had to park blocks away and walk. I finally got one fillup and made it last until things calmed down.

Thanks for sharing Jman. That def was on hell of a storm. One that we will never forget.

Reading J Mans post brought back all the memories.80 foot oak trees whipping around in 80 MPH gust that sounded like a freight train, 8 days without power, cold in the 20's at night.Where I am moving in Monroe NY, I will eventually install a natural gas powered generator big enough to power the entire house.Never going through that again.Hopefully, gas stations in the area have learned the lesson of Sandy and have back up generators to run the pumps.There was plenty of gas during Sandy but no power to pump it.

Frank, yes, I'm leaving Mahwah NJ but only going about 35 miles north to Monroe,HV NY.Not very far.

I'd still post here if I moved to Alpha Centauri,LOL!

doc here in westchester it was a shortage of gas not a power issue. Also a issue in the city.

There was gas available but no power at the gas stations to pump it.I think this state talked about forcing gas stations to have back up generators in events like this.Don't know if that ever happened.

Hard to believe that it was two years ago today that Sandy hit.

I shot several video clips before, during, and after the storm, but this video is probably one of the more dramatic ones that I filmed.

It shows a garage roof getting damaged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkg9Wv9TVx0&list=UUwE9BgyqeghfSSlLLQp8o_g

Oc course, this was nothing compared to the toppled power lines and storm surge that other videos show