Hurrican Sandy story

It was a very cold morning in late October. I remember waking up in my bed in my favorite place in the world of Long Beach Island. I knew it would be a busy day. I remember my dad getting everyone ready to leave and go to the furniture store to do some preparation for the storm. Little did I know how much damage this little storm would cause for the island, our store, and our business.

As we were pulling up to Oskar Huber Furniture, it looked like an average beach day on LBI. My older brother had gone to the store the previous day to get a multitude of wooden boards and bags upon bags of sand. And then it all started; all of my uncles, my brothers, and male cousins began boarding up all of the glass showcases and windows open to the outside. After that, they proceeded to stack the bags of sand against the boards so there was no way that they could come off. There wasn't much that the women of the Huber family could do, just help with the little things and provide the guys with whatever they needed. We left the island after a very long day of work, and later that night, the storm began.

When the storm started, it seemed like it was just an average thunderstorm in Pennsylvania. A few hours later, I remember my dad receiving a phone call. He told us that all of Long Beach Island has been evacuated, and nobody was allowed on the island for any reason. It was then that I realized the severity of this storm. I was really beginning to become a little frightened as to what would happen not only to our store, but to the rest of the island as well.

It was a week or so until people were allowed back on the island; however, the only people allowed on the island were business owners for a few hours, and they had to be escorted by the National Guard. Once they pulled up to the store, the sand bags were gone, and the boards on the ground. Luckily, the glass had not been shattered. A sigh of relief had passed through all of us as we saw the glass was intact. Then we went inside the store. The first thing we noticed as we stepped inside: the carpet was still soaked. All of the furniture on the first floor was completely damaged, whether it was wooden and broke, or the fabric on the furniture had stains and rips. There was a line on the wall, about 20 inches up from the floor, that showed how high the water had gotten inside of the store. Everyone in the store was completely and utterly shocked.

After our allotted time was up, the National Guard escorted us back off of the island. After another few weeks, the island was open to everyone else, including homeowners. We got the chance to go check out our house, which was completely taken off of its base. As we drove further south of the island, we noticed how the houses' qualities began to get worse and worse. Many houses, like ours, were off their bases; others were lopsided; and others were partially sitting in the road or on the beach. We all become completely speechless. None of us knew that the storm, a storm that we thought we prepared so well for, could leave so much damage and heartbreak to Long Beach Island.

After we had taken everything in, our next thoughts were what we could do to repair all of this damage. Well, no sooner did the "Restore the Shore" slogan start trending, and before we knew it, people everywhere were giving their money, time and effort to aid in this restoration. A few months later, so much progress was made. What surprised all of us most, however, was the length of time it took to restore so much damage by a storm that only took a few days to create. Sometimes, it's just crazy how the environment and mother nature works.