What a difference a year makes.
Last August, hurricane fever hit New Jersey as residents of the shore area taped up their windows, bought generators, and hunkered down in anticipation of Hurricane Irene. My husband Dan and I earned a new nickname — Storm Chasers — when we headed toward (not away from) the coast to watch the ocean becoming progressively choppier and capture photos of flooded streets. So on the day before the storm was supposed to hit, we grabbed our cameras, put on boots and yellow rain coats, and drove to his parents’ home in Avon-by-the-Sea, which is situated just a few blocks from the ocean and right on the Shark River inlet.
During the night, we listened the loud howling of the wind and heard tree branches being slapped around. Then, as soon as the sun came up, we headed to the beach to survey the damage. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated. Although there was flooding on some of the side streets (and in the basement of several homes) and a few trees had fallen, the overall damage wasn’t that significant—at least along the coast. As it turned out, it was a number of inland areas in New Jersey, Connecticut, and other states that sustained the most damage.
But for those in the shore area, who were subjected to days of non-stop coverage by news outlets that churned out endless headlines like “Good Night Irene,” the big storm was kind of a bust.
So when residents of the shore area started to get inundated with projections about the latest “storm of the century,” it would’ve been understandable if they weren’t exactly in a hurry to fight for the last loaf of bread at the grocery store or drive to a Home Depot two hours away to buy a generator. After all, they’d been burned before. But most people decided it better to be safe than sorry. They stocked up on bottled water, flashlights, candles and nonperishable foods.
And it’s a good thing, because this time things were quite different. Hurricane Sandy ripped apart the Jersey shore, causing significant flooding, leaving millions (including me) without power, and forcing the stock market to close for two straight days. Sandy was the real deal. This time, there were no cute nicknames or slogans, and no one complained that they had done all of that preparing for nothing.
As for the “Storm Chasers,” this time around, our biggest priority was to make the sure our four-month old twins had enough food, diapers, and wipes to last for at least a week, and that they were warm enough. After spending one night at our place without power, we made a plan of action to take the babies to Dan’s parents’ house, where a generator has been running for a few days. Ironically, we ended up at the same place; but whereas last year we went to the shore seeking adventure, this time we went there seeking a warm place for out little ones. When you’re responsible for other people, it changes the way you plan and the decisions you make when faced with an emergency.
That, to me, is what disaster planning is all about. You can never anticipate when a storm is going to hit and how bad it’s going to be — all you can do is prepare… and hope for the best. And if it turns out you’re stuck with a bunch of flashlights you didn’t have to use, consider yourself lucky.
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