Four weeks ago today my husband and I were scrambling home from the Allume conference in PA to prepare for the worst with Hurricane Sandy. These were the signs we saw on our way home. He was definitely planning and preparing mentally and I was praying. Needless to say it was a quiet ride.
First step – PREPARE
We live a few blocks from the river and just one block west of the cutoff for “Zone A” (a mandatory evacuation zone) so we got back into the city, gassed up the car, secured the gazebo, moved the potted plants, bought some groceries, stocked up on drinking water, checked flashlights and candle inventory. Check. Check. Check.
We’d done everything they said we should in all the official press conferences. All that was left to do was wait. So, we waited. The kids had plenty to keep them busy while the wind howled and the rain fell in what looked like a horizontal pattern at times.
Despite the news reports my husband and I did something very silly (hindsight is 20/20 isn’t it?). We ventured out just before the storm hit and again first thing Tuesday morning. I’ve never experienced a hurricane making landfall in our city so I thought it would be harmless to assess the damage in our neighborhood firsthand. Aside from a few broken tree limbs it seemed as though nothing really happened. We hoped this was true for the rest of the city. I never considered falling power lines. I later found out a 29 year old walked out onto her front steps to take some pictures and stepped into a puddle where a power line was resting. She never took that picture.
Physically we were ready and it looked like NY came through unscathed. We quickly found out it was anything but…
Some time later my best friend called to check in; she lives in Zone A in another neighborhood. She had evacuated but she’d heard from neighbors who hadn’t left. The situation in her neighborhood was serious. The bridges hadn’t been opened, the news reports were grim but there weren’t too many details available to understand the severity of what had happened or if her house was still standing. High tide came in overnight and an already serious situation turned into a desperate situation. We knew power was out, streets were flooded and some neighborhoods went up in flames. Anxiety was rising but there was nothing we could do but wait some more. That afternoon she called again, she was heading out with her husband.
From the front line
My husband and I sat anxiously waiting. On one end of the peninsula we already knew that my best friend’s home was flooded. I sensed her desperation. I prayed. On the other end we’d heard of fires and explosions. In the middle of that peninsula our spiritual mentors, friends of my parents from childhood, owned a home but we hadn’t heard from them. We couldn’t sit at home, my husband and I decided to see how we could help. We jumped in the car and headed out. I was not prepared for what I saw.
It was a shocking ride through their neighborhoods. I could almost hear the tears streaming down my face. My husband held my hand as we looked around in disbelief. Cars abandoned in the middle of the road. Did their owners get stuck in the rush of the ocean as it came ashore? Or had they been pushed there by the bay when it pushed ashore? I didn’t really want to know.
This gas station had been flooded and looted. |
Streets were flooded and cars were missing. |
I got to my best friends house but she was devastated and had already left. Her house sits approximately 4 feet off the ground but the waterline was above the midway point of her living room window. I couldn’t get out of the car. I was speechless. We drove to our mentor’s home. Some streets were closed and impassable. Then we saw this…
what was once a beautiful home now has a section of the boardwalk in it’s front room. |
If you’re not sure what it is you’re looking at let me explain. Rockaway is a peninsula. On one end there is the ocean and on the other the bay. With only a few blocks separating the two in some areas you can see how this peninsula was in trouble with a superstorm brewing. The boardwalk was lifted off of the pilings and tossed into this neighborhood, moving cars as if they were matchbox toys and ripping into homes. The pictures don’t really tell the story.
We knew that the train stations were flooded. Tunnels in Manhattan were also flooded. This was unheard of. Tens of thousands were left without power. Thousands had evacuated their homes and didn’t know what they would be returning home to. At least 100 lives were lost in NY. That was the last count, I really don’t want to know what the final count really is. The sights were nothing less than unbelievable. This boat was pushed from either the ocean or the bay into the middle of a major street in Queens.
My heart was aching as my husband jumped in to help our mentors board up their home. There were several inches of sand in their house. The ocean forced its way through their front door and out their garage pushing everything inside their home, including their car, out into the street behind their house. Their neighbor is a retired firefighter who is struggling with medical issues following his heroic work on 9-11. The heartache was almost physically too much to bear. I was overwhelmed for the people trying to process what just happened in their communities. I was inspired by my husband’s response. He and our mentor’s were helping neighbors board up their house and collect what they could from the streets. We had to do something on a larger scale but what? I wasn’t sure.
The next morning I got dressed to go with my best friend to clean out her house. Before I left I sent an email to my team at The Legacy Center. I told them what I had seen and asked them to think about ways we could help. I didn’t know that they had all been feeling the same thing. I should say, I didn’t know that God was pulling on the strings of their heart also. My Executive Director was already making phone calls. He was the Regional Director for a national organization that immediately responded to natural disasters all over the globe. He was equipped to respond. The warehouse manager that we had just hired a few weeks earlier was on the team that responded to an earthquake in Peru a few years earlier. He was also prepared to respond. The warehouse we had leased just two months earlier was stocked with supplies that we never imagined would be used in this situation. Our Deputy Director was planning and our fundraising team manager was coordinating.
While I was with my girlfriend throwing out just about everything in her home, including the furniture from her family daycare, we tried to keep a positive outlook. At least she and her family were safe. There was no cell service but a text came through…”The TLC truck is on its way with supplies”.
God is up to “something.” I can’t define it. I can’t explain it and I can’t contain it. I don’t want to try. I just want to join him. I just want to be with him. I just want to believe him. ~Cindy Powell
I was limited to what my eyes and brain could take in but God sees the bigger picture (the past, present AND the future). He was up to something. Actually, He was up to a lot and He allowed my eyes to be opened to see it and take it all in. The testimonies are unimaginable. They’ll leave you speechless. I’ve spent the last 29 days in silence because I haven’t had the words to express the faithfulness and the mercy of a God who many are currently asking “why has He abandoned us?”. I promise you He hasn’t abandoned us. I’ll tell you about the many small miracles I’ve seen in my next post.
Until next time, be still and know He hasn’t failed or abandoned us!
Learning and sharing as I journey to KNOW and REFLECT Him,
Diana
UPDATE: For my post after the one year anniversary (11-2013) click here!
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