So, we were without power for four days. And it sucked. But, I know it could have been much worse. We had no water damage and no falling trees. I had a friend with a tree through her roof and many, many friends with water higher than their children in their basements and garages.
I'm not a nervous person by nature. I don't think the worst is going to happen, ever. I know media loves to hype things up too. So, I can't say I really prepared for this storm aside from getting a case of water. I had some batteries, I have a small flashlight, I have a few little push lights, and my husband has a lantern. I hadn't been food shopping for two weeks prior to the storm so I had to do my normal food shopping. In retrospect, that was kind of dumb because when my power went out, I lost a lot of the perishable food.
Then I couldn't escape the news. I'm an ABC News watcher because that's where all my soaps are (RIP AMC & OLTL...wah!). I hear "Tornado". Not a word thrown around much in these parts. THAT is what freaked me out. We had to worry that we might get water or we might get our roof blown off. Goodie.
Don't get me wrong- while other people were busy "hunkering down" on Saturday night, we still did our normal Bensi thing. Even though the mall was closed we weren't losing what could be our last chance to eat dinner out for awhile. Saturday night is Bensi night- come hell or high water (literally!), or both.
Usually my husband is the worrier in the house. I don't know...for once, he didn't seem to give a crap. He was in some sort of weird denial. Well, since this is not usually my department, I gave in to the media hype and decided we'd all sleep in the basement. We have a finished basement but all of a sudden, those windows down there became places I was imagining streaming flood waters coming down. Whatever- I figured, we'd know if water was coming in where as if a tree came down, there would be no warning and one of us could be dead. I stuck with the water fear.
Worst "sleep" ever. If you could call it that. I'm a night owl and B a morning person so for once, this worked in our favor. We decided we'd take shifts watching and worrying so he fell asleep around 11p and I was up reading Soap Opera Digest and People while simultaneously being on Facebook (reading about more impending doom and what had already happened south of us) and on the Nest. I decided I'd get E from his crib around 1am. I wanted him to be REALLY sleeping by the time I got him. I scooped him up, and brought him to the REALLY COMFORTABLE (note the heavy sarcasm) futon he and I were to share. The kid is practically a sleepwalker. He was ALL OVER THE PLACE. Safe to say, I didn't really sleep. B woke up like every hour from 4a on to check things. Again, hindsight, I wish we all just slept in our beds because I woke up with a wicked headache and muscle spasms, but whatever- we were all safe.
At 7a, E woke up in a panic, not recognizing his surroundings and not digging it AT ALL. He kept demanding to go in his crib. By then, I didn't know what to believe about the storm because it seemed not as bad as predicted. He went back to sleep until 9:30a. That has never happened. Ever. But what to do with him since most likely then there would be no nap? Non-stop Annie on dvd of course. Besides, "Tomorrow" was kind of appropriate for the moment. And E can belt it out like nobody's business.
We just spent the rest of the morning and part of the early afternoon alternating between news and Annie. Then....everything turned OFF. Lost power. We had sunny skies and no power. Weren't allows out of the house. Kind of scared to go out because there was a lot of branches/leaves/twigs and other debris around and we're not dumb. The wind was blowing and there was still concern for other trees to come down.
I really thought it would just pop back on and it never did. I was pissed we never really considered getting a generator. I was concerned about all the food I just bought and all the food I had stored. I have a refrigerator/freezer in the house but I also have one in the garage. I read that refrigerated food can last 4 hours. But, freezer food can last 24-48, the more packed, the longer it lasts.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/keeping_food_safe_during_an_emergency/index.asp
Worse was that it was JUST US, and four neighbors next to each other across the street that lost power. One of my neighbors heard the transformer pop. How we were on the same grid with four houses across the street, I have no idea. We did borrow a generator, but lo and behold, B went back to his usual self and got paranoid about carbon monoxide. I got to watch all but about 10 minutes of the VMA's (BTW- LOVED Beyonce's announcement. Best moment.) before he came down like a bat out of hell to tell me I had to turn the generator off and that I'm obsessed with "media". Yeah, who isn't. But, I felt bad that he was so bothered, so I turned it off. Got to dvr Curb and Entourage but no RHoNJ. For shame.
Lucky for us, we have awesome neighbors (Shout out Val, Rich, Max & Cole), who connected us to their power with an extension cord from their garage to our fridge and tv/cable on Monday afternoon. Hey- we have priorities over here, especially with a toddler. More non-stop Annie. Of course. Weirdly, we also were one of the few that had cable intact. So, even in the dark, I was able to finally record RHoNJ. B was showering with E in twilight with a lantern.
We went to the Gotham Diner, which, I reviewed as being great for breakfast- but dinner there was a nightmare. SLOWEST service, waitress was like an old-lady version of Flo from Mel's Diner. She got E and my order wrong, totally, and we were there for over an hour. It was fine because E can roll with it and what were we rushing home for- to sit in the dark? But, I was cranky and starving so the experience could have been way better. At least we came home to Bachelor Pad on our borrowed electricity.
E, at 2.5 fared pretty well during all this drama. He went to bed about two hours later than normal most of the nights, he slept later, and he's been really whiny and dramatic but he could've been worse. I'm not even sure if it was the power being out or just normal "Terrible Two's" stuff actually. The weather outside was really beautiful Monday-Wednesday so we were able to go to our town pool. Shout out also to Glen Rock Municipal Pool workers. A lot of pools (Graydon for sure!) are now closed for the season because it would be too costly to fix and re-open just for Labor Day weekend. Glen Rock was clean, up and running on Monday after the storm. I just spent a lot of time out of the house.
On a more serious note, I am fully aware that people lost more than power and their reality tv shows. We were very lucky. It could have been MUCH, MUCH, MUCH worse. My hometown, New Milford, was totally screwed and under water again. Parts of New Milford, Oradell, Teaneck, Bergenfield, Tenafly, etc all were either under water or still are having power outages. Garfield and Lodi- under water. We fared REALLY well and I am SO grateful. Hey- we lived. The power being out SUCKED. I lost a lot of money in groceries, but there are so many people, some acquaintances, that lost everything.
Homes in Mahwah and Suffern declared condemned. From what I understand that means that their homes aren't structurally sound anymore and it sounds like that's it- they'll never be allowed back in them. People in New Milford had to be rescued by boat. I watched the mayor of Suffern on the news talk about his community and I was crying. My heart broke for these people. And that's just a small portion of people. When I saw downtown Denville, I almost threw up. I've never been there, but their downtown looks like it could be downtown Glen Rock. We have a small business here in town. If what happened there, happened here, both B and I would have lost everything and for sure would have had to claim bankruptcy and probably both of us would have had a nervous breakdown. How can you prepare for that kind of devastation? You can't. My heart goes out to all those shop owners who are trying to pick up the pieces and figure it out in the aftermath.
If anyone knows of donation sites/areas, what people need, etc, please post in the comments section here so it's available to as many people as possible. I don't know anything about donations in Bergen or Passaic, but:
I pulled these off a friends FB pages-
Clothing donations: Social Services at Town Hall in Denville
Lake Hiawatha: Accepting donations of any sort - clothes, shoes, canned goods, school supplies, household items, cleaning supplies. Landmark Florist has a vacant store at 450 N Beverwyck Rd where the items will be stored and distributed. For any inquiries please call Landmark Florist at 973-316-8934 you can also call cell phone # 973-722-5668 Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Oakland- oaklandnjflood.com
Pompton Plains: http://www.firstreformedch
From News 12 site:
- The American Red Cross
- The Salvation Army
- Americares
- Residents interested in volunteering, can contact the Governor's Office of Volunteerism at (609) 633-9629 or (609) 775-5236 or email rmailto:owena.madden@sos.state.nj.us
- Those who need the help of volunteers and services may call 211 or go online at www.nj211.org
- Agencies that wish to post their offers of volunteer assistance can go to www.jerseycares.org
- KIDS – Kids in Distressed Situations
Disaster Assistance for Hurricane Irene
There is Federal Government disaster assistance available for New Jersey residents harmed by Hurricane Irene. If you yourself have not suffered damage, please forward this information to any family or friends who may need assistance.
Yesterday, President Obama issued a Major Disaster Declaration for damage resulting from Hurricane Irene in our state, which makes many New Jersey residents eligible for a number of Federal disaster relief programs. These programs offer grants and loans to individuals and loans to businesses.
The Federal Government has set up a website that allows people to apply online for assistance < http://www.disasterassistance.
If you want to apply by phone rather than the Internet, you can call 1-800-621-FEMA (1-800-621-3362).
Here's the article with information about helping the Fairfield area:
ReplyDeletehttp://caldwells.patch.com/articles/local-efforts-to-help-victims-of-hurricane-irene