We blogged last time about our being in Gloucester Massachusetts where the fishermen from “The Perfect Storm” lived and around which the book and movie were based. It was in late October 1991, when Hurricane Grace, a nor’easter, and a stationery cold front all came together adding energy to the system to create a larger and longer lasting storm than seen before.
We were on Long Island, having taken the ferry over from Connecticut, enjoying the forks at the eastern end (the Hamptons), Oyster Bay (home of Teddy Roosevelt) on the northern end, and Fire Island National Seashore and Coney Island on the south end. We marveled at how rural many of these places were and difficult to believe they were that close to NYC. That is where we were when we heard that Hurricane Sandy was coming.
Hurricane Sandy was predicted to be another Perfect Storm” (a late October hurricane coming together with a nor’easter and a cold front and coming onto shore), but covering a much larger area than the previous one. This was predicted to be more destructive since it would hit highly populated areas at high tide with the full moon’s influence in force. We watched the preparations being made to protect beaches, boardwalks, and near-shore buildings.
We quickly left the area going across the Verrazano Bridge and Staten Island, through New Jersey, and inland into Pennsylvania. While we were thankful for our lifestyle of mobility and lack of tangible treasures, our hearts went out to those directly hit as the devastation unfolded in the next couple of days. This was especially emphasized by the fact that we were recently standing in several places that were now a newscaster-reporting area as the destruction was underway. Atlantic City, Staten, Liberty, and Ellis Islands, Battery Park, Jones Beach, Long Beach, Brighton Beach, & Fire Island were all places that we had been recently, with fun times and memories. Now they were the focus of the wrath of the weather and rising water exceeding predictions.
We were safely into Pennsylvania far enough that Sandy was only a tropical storm by then and we experienced only strong winds and lost power for a few hours. Certainly nothing to complain about. We count our blessings and are grateful beyond words to escape such destruction. In this blog we have included pictures of those areas hardest hit in better times before this demolition.
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