We have been busy here at home preparing for “Frankenstorm” Hurricane Sandy which is expected to hit the New Jersey area between Sunday and Monday and could be the worst in history.
“Worst case scenario”, “historic” and “very rate situation” is how they are describing the approaching storm. Although I don’t watch and read “negative media,” — knowing that news can be sensationalized for TV ratings – it would be foolish to ignore warnings like this:
As you can see from the photo below, we’ve got flashlights, batteries, and water ready. I also spent a good part of Saturday clearing the yard of loose items. I mowed the lawn for the last time, and braced the shed and the fence in anticipation of strong winds.
I went to the local Home Depot here in Toms River in the morning, and was surprised to see a lot of bottled water, batteries and other emergency items. People were not panicking but you could sense urgency. Some were buying plywood to board up their windows and doors.
There was no panic buying in our area, and thankfully so. I saw on TV that in other parts, specially the heavily populated cities, supermarket shelves were being cleared of essential items like water and food.
The Home Depot clerk said they had run out of generators. The 28 units that were delivered in the morning were gone fast. Authorities warned the local population to prepare for power outages.
We live around 10 miles west of the Jersey shoreline, and around an hour drive south of Jersey City/New York City (see map below).
Although our area has not been flooded since we moved here in 2004, still the reports of Hurricane Sandy being a storm of “Biblical proportions” has got me worried for the safety of my family and my neighbors. We have not been asked to evacuate (although we are ready if the need arises).
Local TV reports show residents and businesses in the shore and beach areas already evacuating.
I don’t think we’re close enough to the shore to worry about the predicted 8-foot sea walls, but our house is just a block away from the beautiful Pine Lake in Manchester. Pine Lake overflowed during the last Hurricane Irene but the flooding affected only the Cedar Glen neighborhood and the Surf N’ Stream camp site.
If you’re in the path of Hurricane Sandy, make sure you have emergency supplies and keep tuned in to the radio for emergency announcements.
Here’s the link to the Hurricane Preparedness page of the US National Hurricane Center.
The website Ready.gov lists the following items that should be in a “Basic Disaster Supplies Kit”:
- Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
- Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
- Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
- Flashlight and extra batteries
- First aid kit
- Whistle to signal for help
- Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
- Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
- Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
- Manual can opener for food
- Local maps
- Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charge
(Though unrelated to what’s happening in the East Coast, just got word from my business partner Kristine Pierce that her home state of Hawaii was placed on tsunami alert, forcing 100,000 people to flee to higher ground overnight.)
A tsunami warning was issued after a strong magnitude-7.7 earthquake shook the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada.
Have a safe weekend!
– Gerry
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