It was Monday evening around six o’clock. We already lost power earlier in the day. My parents, my sister, my boyfriend, and I sat around the dark, polished wooden table with a row of candles lighting up the room as we played Rummy 500. My dad had recently checked to see how far the water was flooding our backyard from the canal at the end of our garden and it was half way up the yard already. We didn’t think it would come up much farther because that’s how far it had come up when hurricane Irene hit last year. My dad went upstairs to get another flashlight from his bedroom when I heard this loud rushing noise coming from somewhere near the kitchen. It sounded like someone left a tap running on full blast. “Do you hear that sound too?” I asked Jared, who was staying with us because his parents were stuck in Italy due to the storm. We told my mom that we would go investigate. As we hurried towards the kitchen, the sound got louder near our basement stairs. Jared shone his flashlight down the basement steps and our faces became blank with terror. We saw the water rushing in from a pipe at the end of the stairs like an open fire hydrant. We ran back to the dining room and yelled upstairs for my dad. We all quickly put on our rain boots and ran downstairs to the basement. We waded through the water grabbing all our clothes, holiday decorations, pictures, and stored food and carried it upstairs.

After ten minutes of emptying the basement, with our adrenaline still running, we quickly went upstairs scanning the knee-height water to see if there was anything valuable that we missed. As we looked out our kitchen window, we saw that the water had surrounded our house and it looked like there was a dark, ominous lake in our backyard. Suddenly we heard my dad’s cellphone ring; it was my aunt on the phone. We couldn’t hear what she was saying but we knew something was wrong by the sickly pale look on my dad’s face. He got off the phone and said, “The water is coming in the front and back of Ellen’s house and they have to leave their home and find somewhere that’s higher up.” We all looked at each other confused and not knowing what to even do. My mom turned to my dad and whispered, “Do you think it will reach our first floor?” My dad looked down at the ground and shook his head and said, “I have absolutely no idea.” That is when my little sister and I became even more frightened. Seeing the look on my parents’ faces, as they realized that they had no idea what to do next if the tidal surge did come up to our first floor, was more frightening than seeing the water continue to pour into our basement.

We all gathered on the living room couch leaning against each other, huddling for warmth and comfort. We could still hear the rushing water and the windows and doors rattling from the extremely high gusts. The wind howled through the fireplace that was facing us. We knew that there wasn’t anything left to do but just sit and wait for the storm to be over. We told stories of memories from trips that we had taken together, such as our cruise to Bermuda two summers ago. We also started playing word games, like “I’m going to the grocery store and I am going to buy,” to distract ourselves and get our mind off of the noises coming from the storm. Those games and stories did help my family cope for only an hour though. My dad’s cell phone rang and we all looked at each other in anticipation for what we were about to be told. It was my aunt again and she said they had to swim from their house to their neighbors’ house across the court but they were all safe for now. While my dad told us what Ellen had said, all I could think about was my little twelve and nine year old cousins swimming from their house. I was able to take a deep breath of relief though, knowing that they were all safe. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the wind died down and my father told us that the water was receding back down the garden. It was getting late and the only thing we could do was go upstairs, hug each other goodnight, go to bed, and hope that when we woke up in the morning the worst would be over.

After a fitful sleep, we awoke, looked outside, and saw trees that had fallen barely missing our house. When we checked our basement, there was still four feet of ocean water remaining and there was an awful odor filling the air. As we surveyed our litter strewn garden, it was almost comical to observe that there were dozens of small dead fish among the mountains of leaves and branches throughout our yard. When we went to the front of our house, we were amazed to see all the giant trees that had fallen across our neighbors’ lawns and along the curb with electrical wires tangled among them. We realized that we were all lucky to be alive and to have our house still standing. For this, we felt profoundly grateful. I had learned something important that night. As long as you have the company of your family, you can overcome all obstacles that arise.