“Never have I seen anything like it before in my entire life,” I yelled. Hurricane Sandy was by far the worst natural disaster to ever hit the city of New York. The amount of damage caused by this horrific storm was insane. Millions of people lost their homes, and even a few deaths were reported. New York has ever seen anything like this before; so many people including myself didn’t really know what to think anymore after the horrible scenes left behind from the storm. Many people have one moment in their life they will never forget. Hurricane Sandy was a storm that left a mark in the history books of New York forever.

Hurricane Sandy will never leave my mind. Once the day of the Hurricane came, I had my mind set on evacuating just because I didn’t want to be in a house without power. My mom, brother, and I went to my cousin’s house and stayed there, while my dad stayed at our house to prepare for the worst part of the storm. I felt awful leaving my Dad alone, but he kept saying, “You guys have to leave, there is no way you can stay here, I will be fine don’t worry about me.” I knew that my Dad would be fine because he is the strongest guy I’ve ever known. Later on that night one we got to our cousin’s house, I tried calling my Dad to see how he was and I couldn’t get through because of the connection. Some magical god was watching over us because my cousin’s house never lost power. A few minutes later I got through to my Dad and he sounded devastated. He told us everything that was happening and how he was stuck in the house. On the phone I heard him say, “There is over 5 feet of water in the basement and our pool is under water.” From then on, I realized I should have stayed, and I felt horrible. I looked outside the window at my cousin’s and just saw water in the streets, trees down, and I thought to myself for a minute and asked myself if this was real life or just a dream. The sad part was that it was a reality and ultimately a living hell. Despite all of the craziness going on all at once, my brother, cousins, and I still found a way to have a fun time. We knew that this would probably never happen again so we made the most of it. We played games and watched movies and just all had fun. I said a prayer before I went to bed hoping everything would be ok and could only hope for the best.

As I woke up the next morning, I sprinted to my car and said, “If anyone wants to come with me back to the house come with me.” Everyone came into my car and we were going back to the house to see the damage. Once I got to Nassau Shores, the first thing I saw was trees and wires down and I knew right from then on that it wasn’t going to be good. As I continued driving, I saw puddles of water at least 6 inches deep in front of us. I had no choice but to drive through them. We finally arrived at my house after a crazy ride and I was mind boggled. All I saw on my block was trees down in the middle of the street along with water halfway up the block. That feeling gave me the chills running up my spine. I walked inside and checked my basement out and all I saw was water and debris everywhere. It was as if a garbage truck dumped its trash into my basement. My heart broke in half right at the spot. All of those pictures and memories and old toys from when I was a kid were all filled with water and ruined. I took a knee on the stairs and kissed my cross and let a few tears out. The horrific events I saw from Hurricane Sandy could never leave my mind. Many things I owned as a child were under water now and that hit me hard. My backyard was destroyed also because of all of the water and debris that had entered my backyard. No power, no internet, no basement, no heat, I had absolutely nothing at all. I felt as hopeless as everyone else that got affected by the horrible storm. The empty feeling I had was so empty, that it felt like everything had just been taken away from me. All I saw on my block was couches and floors and walls all ripped out and pulled into the street because of the damage. I was very upset, but I also knew that there were a lot of people that had it worse than me. I thanked god for making us all survive, and for not making it worse. My house was in better shape than other houses down the block by the water. I went to my car and went to go visit my friends and see how they were doing. It was amazing to see how nobody had power, and how everyone got affected. Nobody had anything by my area except devastation. The scenes I witnessed while driving were unbelievable. I just couldn’t believe that this happened. I was in disbelief, and kept trying to tell myself that it was a dream, but it was far from a dream. It was a reality that couldn’t change, and a reality that changed everyone’s lives. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay home because of the terrible conditions, so I slept out for the next week. My family and friends all came together to help each other clean up from this devastating storm. I helped my parents clean up the house and helped my friends clean up their houses. Family is forever, and true friends are always there no matter what. The rebuilding process began, and we were all on our way to making our area a normal peaceful place that it always is.

Hurricane Sandy changed many people’s lives in many different ways. One thing that didn’t change was the people around me that are always there to protect and help me out. Everyone came together as one and helped everyone out through the hard times. Evacuating and witnessing everything Sandy left, will never leave my mind, and won’t leave many other people’s minds either. Everyone has a life changing moment they never forget, and Hurricane Sandy left its mark in the history books. The damage left from Sandy cannot be changed, but it can be served as a disaster that people learn from, and help create a brighter future for the people and help them prepare better for other storms.