Transition

Halloween was technically this past Wednesday, but as the northeast was still scrambling to right itself again after Sandy whomped it out of place, people were advised to go trick-or-treating today instead of Wednesday. Since, you know, there were still live wires, fallen trees, and flooding all around.

I went out trick-or-treating regardless on Wednesday (take that, authority!) with my younger cousins. I wish I had taken pictures because they were all so cute. They originally had power through the storm, but then some guy drove beyond a police barrier on one road and ended up electrocuting himself and his car, knocking out the power in one big part of Thiells. So on Wednesday, their whole block was out of power. We started out around 5:30, going to houses that looked like they had faint candlelight shining through the windows. We probably only hit up around 10 houses before we decided to call it quits because it was getting too dark out.

I'll take the time here to talk about Sandy and her aftermath. The worst I personally experienced wasn't even all that bad. My house lost power Monday night around 8pm and got it back the next day around 3pm. So only a night without power - considering what some other parts of the northeast went through, it was a cake walk.

I briefly ventured out into the howling winds on Monday night mostly because I really like intense storms. I was kind of expecting to get drenched with rain and shaken by thunder. There was none of that, though; it was really just really high winds whipping everything around. The sky hung low with dark clouds and some parts of the sky throbbed with reflected light in a really cool way. I went up my street to see why light was shining from it; it was just a utility truck blocking the end of Hudson Ave. Bright flashes lit up the sky every now and again. At first I thought it was lightning, but then I realized it was transformers that were exploding.

I heard a sawing sound and looked to one of the houses to my right: a big tree branch had fallen on a house but was still attached to the tree. Someone was leaning out of a window, sawing the branch off. The town's two-toned fire signal was sounding, but after a few minutes it became warped and low-toned in an eery way. Finally it just settled on one low, warped note that sang for two minutes before it was cut off. I went inside before the wind could throw a tree at me.

Inside, my parents and I passed the time by swapping ghost stories by candlelight for a bit. My mom went to bed (too many watermelon vodka drinks had made her sleepy) (read: I put her to bed) and my dad and I settled in downstairs to watch a movie on his laptop while it still had power. The laptop didn't last the whole movie, but by the time it died I was feeling tired so I went to bed.

The next morning dawned gray and rainy. We didn't have any trees down or major property damage, luckily. I took a short walk around some of the neighborhood to see if there was any major damage. The most I saw was some big trees that had fallen and power lines down.

All the big trees in St. Mary's churchyard were uprooted.

They had fallen on some cars :/

I found out why the utility truck had been blocking Hudson Avenue on Monday night:

Wires were hanging everywhere; some laying on the road.

The county's been slowly getting itself back together. It's been almost a week since the storm and not everyone has power back yet. Some communities that were close to the Hudson River have been destroyed (example: Ba Mar Basin and all the homes along Stony Point's Sea Wall).

A whole new problem brought about by the storm is the gas shortage. Suddenly everyone and their mom needs to gas up their car. Pumps in New Jersey aren't open, leading Jersey drivers across the border into New York; gas stations can't get new gas from their suppliers because the suppliers were damaged by the storm and lack of electricity; people are afraid of running out of gas so they're hoarding it. It's turned the county into a dangerous place to drive. If you want to get gas you have to wait for at least half an hour in a line that backs up traffic. People are so focused on finding/getting gas that they are driving selfishly and erratically. Add this to the fact that some traffic lights still aren't working and you have a recipe for disaster; multiple car accidents have already been reported. The limited pumps are making people frustrated and angry, leading to fights at the gas stations. Police are spread thin trying to regulate all the traffic and pump stations. In short: it's crazy out there, don't drive if you don't have to.

All the running around in inclement weather has finally caught up to me and I have a small cold. AKA mucus and sneezes - mucus and sneezes err'where.

Happy Halloween from a sick raptor~