The past ten days seem surreal. Though we had braced ourselves for Hurricane Sandy, most of us thought that the storm would be similar in impact to Irene. Unfortunately, Sandy proved us wrong. Our building lost power on Monday night. We had stocked up on plenty of dry foods, water, candles, all of the necessities; phones and computers were fully charged. Having a couple of days off from work was exciting at first but the feeling quickly fizzled once we realized that we could not heat anything in our building, which has electric lines that would be down indefinitely. Soon, we started hearing about the wide-spread devastation that Sandy was causing and a sort of nervousness set in when we could not use our cell phones to get in touch with our family in other parts of New Jersey.
Maithil and I rejoiced when we returned to a home with power on Thursday evening. I had spent Wednesday and Thursday at his office, where they surprisingly never lost power. During the peak of the storm, we had parked on a hill, away from trees and luckily, our car did not suffer any damage. Our cell phone service was restored over the weekend. As we caught up on the news, we knew that we had gotten lucky. Very lucky.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and survivors of Sandy. It is amazing to see how cities and towns have come together during this challenging time. We want to personally thank the tireless and heroic first responders, fire-fighters, medical staff, volunteers, emergency care teams, neighbors, friends, families, and countless others for their love and support. There is a lot that still needs to be done, but slowly and surely, we will rebuild.
Want to get involved in the post-Sandy recovery efforts? Here are a few ways in which you can lend a helping hand. The NYC Food Truck Association is taking donations to provide hot meals in various affected areas. For those in living in my town of Hoboken, please consult the recovery center for all updates.
Hurricane Sandy: An image from NASA
The National Guard comes to Hoboken, NJ
Cabs in a parking lot in Hoboken, NJ
Ground Zero
Wide-spread power outage
The amazing New York Magazine cover
The first five images are courtesy of The Huffington Post; the final image is courtesy of New York Magazine
