Sandy's Recovery in Our Town

Sandy left us with a few downed trees and no power for six days. We were inconvenienced but very fortunate that we had no real damage to our property. We cooked on the grill and fired up our wood burning stove to boil water and provide a little heat in one section of the house. We read by flashlight and fell asleep early. The Sunday after the storm I waited in line at 6 a.m. for 1-1/2 hours to get gas--why didn't I think to fill up the tank before the storm?

 

This huge Black Walnut tree fell in our backyard and just missed our screen house. Of course, it damaged the fence rails that we had put up around the garden in the spring.

After a few days of hard work, we had cut up all the limbs and had piles of branches and logs scattered around the yard.

 

A utility Staging Site was set up in the parking lot of a corporate building behind our house. This sign is at the entrance. There are guards on duty 24-hours a day.

 

Tents were set up to provide dining and laundry facilities to the hundreds of utility workers who have converged on our town to assist with the recovery. 

Utility trucks fill the parking lot with the overflow across the street (below).

There are utility workers from Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, California, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Oregon, and Washington state.

At night workers are shuttled by bus from the staging site to local hotels where they sleep and then return early in the morning on time for breakfast and to receive assignments for the day.

 

A week after Sandy, a Nor'easter dumped snow on an already crippled area but with temps in the 50s it was gone in no time--at least where we live. Our friend from Vermont arrived shortly after to volunteer his time in the hard-hit areas of the Jersey Shore. He was interviewed by Burlington TV before leaving and you can watch the news clip here -- "Vt. Irene victim to 'pay it forward' for Sandy aid." 

To all the utility workers who have helped us recover from Sandy's wrath, "Thank You for a Great Job!"