Sandy

Anyone in Sandy's path, please check in if you can.

What do you need to say or ask about the storm? Say it here in the comments.

(If you're concerned about explaining the storm to your kids, it shouldn't be complicated. Tell them there was--and still is--a big storm that knocked down trees and caused flooding and made the power go out, and today a lot of people are out working to clean up and bring back power and keep people safe. Look for the helpers.)

Comments

[Erin]

I live on the southern edge and we've been really lucky (not much rain, not much wind, we have power), but the entire town decided to shut down for two days anyway, so my kids and I are going stir crazy. But stir crazy with power is 1000X better than without! My thoughts are with everyone in NJ, PA, and NYC.

[Dawn]

We're in the Philly suburbs and we're safe. Since there's no estimate for when the power will be restored, we're packing up and going to my parents' house (they have a generator). It was really crazy here with the winds/rain, but nothing compared to the NJ/DE beach towns and to what happened in NYC last night, so I'm feeling lucky.

[MemeGRL]

All surprisingly good in Philly burbs. One tree down on our block but it only clipped a gutter. Lost power for about an hour last night. Big shout out to PECO, our electric utility, who prepared and had crews from all over roving the suburbs and handling it. (For comparison: we lost power for six days with Irene.) Lots of wet leaves and still raining; and enough damage around that I'm glad school is closed again today. But Halloween appears to be saved, hooray.
I know our friends in NY are not doing as well and am thinking of them so much this morning.

[Kate]

It squeaked by us in the Hartford/Springfield area. A few houses lost power, but that's about it. I think all the big trees that were vulnerable came down in last year's Halloween storm.

[SarcastiCarrie]

In Chicago and seriously...the hurricane was so big the very last bands of it are here. We have gale warnings on Lake Michigan and the winds are whipping the waves up to 30 feet on the lake. No rain here yet...it's just to the east of us. Gusting to 50mph. Obviously, nothing compared to what they are seeing out east, but this just shows how large and wide-spread the storm is.

[Karyn]

Nothing to complain about in the VA side of the DC suburbs,

[Moxie]

SarcastiCarrie, I'm amazed at how big it is. We still have sleet and wind here in Ann Arbor (it was up to 50 mph last night), and the power was out in Toledo for awhile. It's stunning to me how big this thing is.

[Moxie]

SarcastiCarrie, I'm amazed at how big it is. We still have sleet and wind here in Ann Arbor (it was up to 50 mph last night), and the power was out in Toledo for awhile. It's stunning to me how big this thing is.

[Nikki]

Have to agree with the comments about the huge size - I am in Ottawa and the winds here last night were really terrifying. Some small trees down today but nothing huge that I've heard about. Our public utility was on standby last night as well but we did not lose power.
Still, we're an awfully long way from the centre of the storm. My thoughts go out to anyone in harm's way.

[Marylander]

Our part of Montgomery county, Maryland it okay. We were thrashed for a long time. Those who were not as luck are in our thoughts.

[Melissa]

Just north of DC here in MD. Honestly, we got off easily with this one. We are in an area that was hit very hard by the derecho in July, so this was really nothing. We were lucky and didn't even lose power. There are a few tree branches down in our yard, and a few things to fix outside, but nothing major. Our almost 3-year-old even slept through all of the wind last night. Now, my parents' beach place near Rehoboth, DE, we have no idea about.....

[SarahB]

No power in the VA burbs of DC. Our neighborhood had a bad run of fallen trees, but we have seen crews out.

[Erin]

@Melissa - I know, it was so odd to hear all the local hysteria about the storm in central VA, and have everything closed down like the apocalypse was coming, and it was all a lot less scary and damaging than the July derecho, for which we had zero warning/prep. We barely had any wind at all here, nothing compared to the derechos and microbursts and other hurricanes that we've seen. We were lucky!

[Ck]

Northern suburbs of Philly... I haven't left the house yet but I'm amazed to see that there are still leaves left on the trees. I've heard about trees down and power outages but everyone I know locally has power. SO SO lucky!! I was so focused/obsessed with preparing for losing power for up to a week that I never got really scared about the storm itself...
Now, I can't stop thinking about the people who weren't so lucky, however.

[Anne]

Got off easy here in Boston. Just a lot of rain and high winds. I'm so glad we didn't lose power. My heart goes out to all those who were hit hard.

[wealhtheow]

Doing just fine in Fairfax County to the West of DC. Cousins in PA and MA had some tree damage, but thank G-d everyone is safe. Sending my prayers to all those more severely affected.

[Vacationland Mom]

All good in midcoast Maine, some minor/brief power outages but nothing major that I know of. Sending prayers...

[Mamafooz]

I keep thinking about those babies who had to be evacuated from the nicu in NYC. Hope everyone (babies and parents) are holding up okay.

[Jennifer]

Brooklyn, NY resident here. Family of three, so far. I have a 19 month old and I'm 16 weeks pregnant. We're all fine -- we aren't in a flood zone, and we have power, Internet, cable. No injuries. No damage to our home. Glad my husband moved all the furniture in the backyard inside -- our neighbor's furniture is destroyed. We have enough milk to last one more day, so we'll have to figure that one out soon. Only issue really is milk for the kiddo and cabin fever (God bless Nick Jr!). And my nausea -- we have enough snacks I can tolerate to last a few days, too, and thankfully I'm no longer throwing up all the time.

I have not been able to get out (I was afraid of all the wind gusts bringing down tree branches and power lines in my nabe, and no way and I letting my kid outside) but I think I will venture out today to go to work (I'm a WOHM; all my days off during this disaster I have to take as vacation days). My husband is a teacher, and they are giving him the days off, so he can stay with our toddler. Buses I think are running but no subway lines, maybe not for 4-7 days -- I don't know how the hell I'm going to get to work. As long as the schools are closed, my husband will drive me to and from work (probably @ 1-1/2 RT each time). But after that...?

I'm just worried about my friends in Manhattan (one in Chelsea and one in the East Village -- both sections of Manhattan got pummeled, and they have no power, no cell service or only texting, no Internet, etc. To get power for their laptops/phones they have to travel above midtown to offices, stores, whatever, that will allow them to power up. I'm in touch with them sporadically now, mostly by Facebook) and in CT and NJ (no power but otherwise OK, but lots of little kids). And I'm esp. worried about a friend in Brooklyn with an infant with serious health issues -- the infant's main hospital is NYU (yes, the one that was evacuated). I'm hoping he can make it through this period with no ER runs.

Good luck, everyone, and be safe and be well!

[Rania]

When my son 5 asked me about the hurricane, I also decided to tell him things the way they are but in a smooth way, so his answer was: where does Sandy come from, why is she that evil, and who are her parents?" That was shocking, I didn't expect that..Though I handled it, so from now on there's a whole "fairy-tale" about Sandy

[joann in NJ]

Central NJ here. we were very fortunate, we expected massive flooding, but it missed us. Power went out at 8pm on monday and came back at 9pm tonight (Wed). It was pretty cold last night, but we are fortunate to have a fireplace and stocked up on wood. Daughter's school cancelled all week. Cell towers were out, gasoline lines are outrageous and if there is a store open, it has mostly run out of mostly everything now.

Many of our neighbors' trees toppled, including our closest friends in town, who lost an ancient one that smashed into their house. The husband took down many trees last summer and buried their wires to prevent power loss, but this was the one tree they left in their yard. They are so sad (as are we). Halloween is moved to Monday as per our Gov.

The shore towns are also devastated. Even though we personally got off very lucky, our lovely state is beyond devastated and breaks my heart. I was born, educated and am raising my family in NJ and I love our state. Please send kind thoughts to my friends and neighbors today. Thanks.

[Adidas Golf Jacket]

In 2004 we were without power for ten days down here in Florida, I went through six gallons of gas a day to run the generator I had to buy in order to keep one window air conditioner and the fridge working 13 hours a day, it was a constant search effort to find gas stations with gas to sell.
Good luck to ll of you, I can't stand the cold.

Regards,
Alvano

[Gillian]

Central NJ here, too. Joann said it best re the shore. Unbelieveable photos.

Today is Thursday and we've been without power since 6:30pm Monday. 7 yr old is wondering when school will start again although I think not until Monday. I am a teacher and, for once in my career, seem to have actually caught up on grading (sitting by sunlit windows) so I'm happy I took all my students' papers home last weekend!

Our home luckily had no damage but neighbors' homes did as did many main streets. However, businesses including many restaurants only briefly lost power so we've been venturing out during daylight and layering clothing at night, all three of us sleeping by a fire. Luckily we do have hot water. I am cold and now beginning to worry about pipes because if the power outage continues, overnight temps are forecast in mid-30s. Hopefully we will have power back soon. Definitely could've been worse and I'm trying to keep perspective.

[joann in NJ]

Hi Gillian -
pm me at jhoppe123@aol.com perhaps we can help if you are close by and have gas. I also have a 7 year old.
JoAnn

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