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Hey guys,since things are in such a mess around here in NJ I haven't worked the past three days and likely will miss the whole week.Today it took me a hour of waiting in a foot line to pick up gas for my generator which was a short wait compared to the cars in a separate line waiting around two hours.I'm not even driving much just to avoid using the gas I have so I can avoid the car lines.Hopefully in a couple more days more stations will reopen.Thankfully I was blessed with a pleasant surprise when my power was restored shortly after 6 pm this evening.There is still much darkness around me so I feel very fortunate.Took a walk around my town this afternoon and took pics of some of the damage,mostly from downed trees.
Mârk
These people have a long wait for this mess to get cleaned up.
Mârk
To really get a feel for the impact look at the damage sustained
in New Jersey. Whole neighborhoods destroyed, tons of damage.
It's going to take years for people impacted to recover (if they
ever do.) Sadly there are many who lost everything and there are
many who died.
I'm well aware of the hardships others are suffering as I indicated to Ted in my reply above.I don't want to come off as a complainer being I know I've "lucked out" with this storm.Others have suffered tremendous losses that I can't even imagine.I just hope they can put their lives back together as best as humanly possible.
Mârk
This sums up what plagued most of the residents around town.
Mârk
Hi Mark,
I was looking at these photos with my jaw wide open. Such a shame to see a majestic old tree just toppled into a beautiful old house. However, I am happy to hear your electricity was restored. Please keep us updated on your situation and I am glad you are doing okay.
Take care, Ted
I would add throughout the region, there are probably thousands of trees down, many of them taking down wires, smashing into houses/cars/and in some tragic cases killing people. There were several cases where people were killed by falling trees.
In a number of cases you had theese huge trees where the ground
got soaked with so much water that the roors just let go and the
entire tree comes crashing down. That is very common when you
very heavy rains.
Hi Ted and thank you for your concern:)In a way the damage seen in these pictures is small considering wiped out communities along the coast.I looked at the news and saw what's happening in lower Manhattan and the devastation out on Long Island where over 100 homes got burned to the ground in that wind swept fire.So I count my blessings that all I had to deal with was 48 hours without electricity.And even with that I was fortunate having a generator to power up the house in the evening so I could have lights and warmth.However I do feel for those who are really suffering that took the brunt of this storm.Thank you my friend.
Mârk
Hi Mark,
I am keeping everyone affected by Sandy in my thoughts and prayers. I went through Hugo when he came through Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was something I tell you. I hope I never have to go through that again. Probably not a very good chance down here in good ole San Antone, Texas. We're happy to get a little rain once in a while:) Yake care and be well friend:)
Ted
I'm glad you fared fairly well through Sandy. Where I live in Connecticut, we made out better this time as opposed to Irene.
We still don't have power but I finally got the old generator running!
"Here I sit broken hearted
cranked the engine
but it only farted"
Well, it's running well now but they are giving a time line of 2 or 3 days for power restoration. I hope the spit and duct tape hold out!
Take care Mark,
Bruce
Hi Bruce,
I have to admit having the generator is a lifesaver mainly after it gets dark.I don't mind as much during the day as I get natural sunlight indoors and just wear a jacket to stay warm but at night I can't imagine sitting in a cold dark house.I only powered it up after dusk and shut it down when I went to bed to conserve the fuel.Considering the installation of a permanent whole house generator.Cheers my friend.
Mârk
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It is good to see you are safe, Mark. Hopefully that tree in front of your house is OK. (I measured it at 28 meters tall and 12 meters from your roofline.) It is good that your power is back on. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon for you. We occasionally get "winter hurricanes" here which knock down lots of trees, but what happened to you was at least one full order of magnitude worse. Take care.
Scott
Hi Scott,
That tree is at the curb and even if it fell would likely just graze the house.It's not like those huge oaks around the rest of town that are house crushers.Glad I made it fairly well through this event but it was scary when it was actually happening.Cheers my friend.
Mârk
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your further update, and I am glad that you are doing relatively well and have your power back on after not too long a wait.
Your photos are are so eerily familiar, and bring back memories of my experience with "Hurricane Juan", which hit Halifax diretly as a Category 2 back in September 2003. There were downed trees, power lines, and transformers everywhere, including many trees on top of homes, and I was without power for 8 days. My office was also closed for nearly a full week as well.
Plaese take care, and stay safe.
David
Hi David,
Yes I'm very fortunate to have gotten off so easy in this mess.Now that I have power restored the only problems are all the businesses that are still closed and the fact I have no work at the moment.Hope by next week that slowly gets up to speed.Thanks for you concern my friend:) Cheers
Mârk