Hurricane Sandy took a hard hit on the tri-state area, especially on Long Island. Getting the evacuation call made me wonder what the outcome would be. At that point, I was hoping for the best, and began to pack my things.
“Ring, ring, ring,” every five minutes, it was an automated system calling from the town and state for us to evacuate. The call said that people who live south of Merrick Road in Nassau County have to evacuate due to the potential weather condition. We got that call on Sunday, October 28th, and that was the beginning of the storm. My dad ran outside and tied down the backyard furniture, while my mom and I started to pack our belongings. We didn’t know how long we’d be away, so we basically took half of our clothes and the basic necessities. Since we live across from the bay, we tend to get flooded in our basement. Due to past experiences, my dad thought it was best to put weights under the furniture to prevent the water from ruining it. While he was doing that, I almost finished putting my items in the suitcase and ready to go to my grandparent’s house. We got a call from my aunt, who lives a few streets over, and found out that she too is staying at my grandparent’s house. I knew now that it was going to be a hectic week. Once that clock struck four o’clock, we were out of the house.
On the way to my grandparent’s house, I saw a bunch of people boarding up their houses, and packing up their cars. I felt that people were taking this hurricane more seriously, then Hurricane Irene, which swept through last year. When we arrived to the house, my grandma was standing outside with open arms, and I was so thankful that she let us stay there. Since we have three cars, we arrived in two, and left one in the garage so they wouldn’t get damaged. Plus, we brought so much, and we ended up needing a second car to hold everything. So many thoughts about the potential effects of the storm were going through my head, as I was unpacking the car and moving suitcases into the den. “Steph, Steph, Steph,” I heard someone calling my name, and it was my cousins yelling out their car windows. Finally my cousins arrived, and the crazy week has begun.
Sunday night consisted of us talking about the sleeping arrangements, which were a little different on some nights. All of nine of us agreed on where we sleeping, but it wasn’t a short conversation. One person needed a television in the room, someone wanted complete darkness, or someone wanted a bathroom nearby; there were so many scenarios, and somehow we all finally decided on one. The sleeping arrangements consisted of four of us downstairs and five of us upstairs. We thought it was the best plan, because each floor had a bathroom and a television, so everyone was happy. The first night there, I slept on the floor in the den which wasn’t the most comfortable, but but at least I had somewhere to sleep.
The next morning I was up a little before six, because my little cousin is an early bird, and likes to run around in the morning. Besides all of the commotion I found out that school was going to be closed for that day, but the state didn’t know what the future plans were. Once it was breakfast time, we had to bring in chairs from the dining room, due to the large amount of people in the room. My uncle made us a little over two dozen pancakes, some waffles, eggs, etc.; we basically had every type of breakfast in the house, due to all of the food that we all brought. Our day then consisted of playing a lot of games like Sorry, Checkers, and a lot of different card games. But when it came time for everyone to take a shower, it was like you were on line to board a plane. My grandparent’s only have one shower, and there were nine people. Let’s just say it was hard to get used to having so many people in one house, and not being able to go outside. As the days went on, we finally adjusted to each other’s routines, and there wasn’t a big commotion anymore.
The storm started to die down around that Wednesday, which was Halloween, so my cousins being so young, they still wanted to celebrate the holiday. They made sure to bring their costumes, and they actually went trick or treating around the neighborhood. At this point, we really couldn’t go back to our houses due to the damaged power lines, which left a lot of us with no power. The next day, my cousins and I walked to the elementary school which is right around the block from my grandparents, to go on the playground. I did this to give the adults a little break from the kids being in the house, and I too needed some fresh air from being stuck in a house, which were not used to.
The official time being away was eleven days, but it felt longer than that. Living with six other people took a long time to get used to, but besides the crowdedness, I actually had fun. This storm has impacted so many people’s lives, but it also brought us together with the people that mean the most to us.