This is right down the street from the Condo we used to own in Hoboken. I used to regret letting it go, now... I guess it really was a good idea. I can't imagine the clean up costs!!! November 1, 2012
[from FB post: November 1, 2012]
Post Sandy: Two gable vents slightly damaged and one piece of gutter a little bent. One small tree fell over (well, to be honest...I think it was dying). One LARGE tree feel and smashed my fence (ugh) but missed my neighbor's house! And of course no electricity for 48 hours. I am NOT complaining just viewing the devastation elswhere... Thank God we got off lightly! (oh and a LOT of leaves and small branches to rake up!)
[November 5, 2012]
Hey Matt,
Yes, I'm sure you are glad you are not in Hoboken! Sounds like overall, you faired pretty well, despite having to do some clean-up and fencing to repair.
We were fine; didn't even lose electric; flickered a few times but that was all. B was all ready with the generator, just in case. My sister was with us because she lost power.
Can't believe Thanksgiving is only three weeks away! Hope to see you soon!
Superstorm Sandy was huge and everyone had adequate warning. As with Hurricane Agnes in 1972, which I remembered from childhood, the worst part was flooding, not really the wind. Takeaways from my own experience were as follows:
"Sandy" dealt a crippling blow to New York City. The subway system FLOODED and not just a few stations. It was a worst case scenario accurately reported in the media - it was not sensationalized. In fact, it was downplayed - no one wanted to admit how terribly unprepared New York was for such an event, so better just to focus on what happened, the clean up, and "getting back to normal". A week after the event the worst affected parts of the city were semi-functioning. Eight months after, everything was normal again.
New York and New Jersey were in a dysfunctionally conjoined state of denial. Not even a hurricane had hit the region directly and it brought the metropolitan area to its knees. What if a real hurricane had struck? Sadly, not much has changed in the last decade and New York City remains perilously vulnerable. Having lived through 9/11 in Manhattan (that was just two buildings and the adjacent areas), I fully understood that New York was not, and may never be, able to deal with a disaster of epic proportions. All the ruined cities I visited in my travels were abandoned after just one final blow that could not be recovered from and caused people to leave permanently. What if a category V hurricane hit New York (or Miami?) full on? As the photo above shows, the flooding near the condo we owned in Hoboken was dire - I was glad to be in the relative safety of Milford, or was I?
Sandy also brought home to me that after a decade of renovating "Brian and Matt's Museum House", my personality type was far too nervous ever to own, be emotionally attached to, or enjoy the fruits of - a "home". Of course, we had money and insurance. Everything was replaceable, but just the thought of having it damaged after one major event was enough to put me over the edge. I sat up all night during Sandy and watched as my walls LEAKED water (the roof was fine). Finally, nothing too terrible happened, but the residual angst due to the worry bothered me. Did the storm represent the last years of my life? Forever experiencing anxiety because of this large, over-renovated house in a little Pennsylvania town that held all our "treasures" from years of travel? I was not so sure about that as a plan for life's later years.
I appreciated my cousin-sister EHJ checking in with me. I think even my family had started to worry about my rather unhealthy relationship with "the big house". A decade was a long time to live in one place and be focused on such a project - even if it was something "positive" like a huge renovation. I certainly look back on those years as something of a lost decade of life even if my lifestyle was privileged.
After Sandy I almost started to hate the house. That was helpful because in a year I would be gone anyway. Sandy was a harbinger of sorts and like New York after Sandy, I was repaired and started to function again. For now, anyway.