Hurricane Sandy Story

Everyone said that Sandy was going to be bad.  They all said that it would be the biggest hurricane to hit the United States since Katrina.  But I never imagined that it could get this bad, I never imagined that my hidden sanctuary could be so completely destroyed.

It was only the beginning of my junior year of high school. It was October 24, I remember because it was two days before my school’s homecoming.  I picked up my best friend Christina on the way to school, as usual and the first thing she said to me was “OMG Nikki, that huge hurricane is supposed to hit us today, we’re all going to die.” For days, the only thing that was ever on the news was Hurricane Sandy, apparently today was the day that Sandy would meet my hometown Red Bank, New Jersey.  It had been raining for the past few days in Red Bank, and today was no different.  The school day was pretty uneventful, until suddenly the power throughout the entire school went out.  We sat in our classrooms unaware of what was going on.  After about two hours, buses arrived to take the students home.  When Christina and I arrived at my house, both my parents and my little sister Kendall were gathered around the kitchen table.  Instantly, I could tell that my parents were worried.  But I knew that they were trying to act calm for the sake of my 7 year old sister.  For hours we all sat around the kitchen table without any electricity and played games, ignoring the sound of the storm.

When it seemed like the worst was over, my dad decided to look outside.  After about 5 minutes he came back inside and warned us all not to look out of any windows, was it really that bad? We just continued to sit around the kitchen table and play games.  All five of us, mom, dad, Kendall, Christina, and I.  Eventually, there was a knock at the door; Christina’s parents came from about two miles away.  I saw a glimpse of outside when my father opened the door.  All I saw were trees, trees that were once upright were scattered all over the street. 

The first time I walked outside, what I saw looked like a post-apocalyptic world.  There were houses with roofs completely torn off.  I couldn’t believe what had happened to Red Bank, my sanctuary.  All over town, homes were destroyed.  These innocent people lost their homes and for what?

The next few weeks were pretty difficult.  Homecoming was cancelled, along with the annual Halloween parade, and even school was cancelled for two weeks.  We spent most of our time helping people in the neighboring towns.  We sorted through wreckage, brought food to the shelters, and eventually we became part of the restore the shore effort.  One thing I’ll never forget is a lady I met through restore the shore.  She was a 61 year old widow.  Because of Sandy she lost every single photo and memento that she had of her late husband, Randy.  Her strength was inspiring.  Every single day she put her pain aside to help others in need.  I’ll never forget what she said to me “I’m doing this for Randy, he loved the shore more than anything.”