Hoping for the best and preparing for the worst – awaiting Hurricane Sandy

by Ljubenka

New York - a view of our courtyard as Hurricane Sandy approaches

New York – a view of our courtyard as Hurricane Sandy approaches

It started raining at 6.45am this morning and hasn’t stopped since. As I write this post from my home office this evening, my family like many, many others in the New York area await the wrath of Hurricane Sandy which is heading our way in a matter of hours.

The last two days have seen grey skies with rain and winds preparing the Northeast area for the unknown at this stage.

Our family and friends have been calling, emailing and texting us however, we don’t have much news to report at the moment. We are as prepared as one can be in the hands of Mother Nature.

With schools closed, work cancelled and all mass transit suspended since 7pm Sunday evening, there isn’t much to do other than relax, spend time at home with the family and simply wait it out. There are no appointments or errands to run and our busy schedules have all-of-a-sudden, ceased.

You can’t go anywhere for that matter. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and it will take many days to resume the normal schedule. It feels like a four day long weekend, although we know it’s not.

We have storm surge threats and power outages likely in the area once the center of Sandy nears close enough. Here’s hoping Sandy, like Hurricane Irene some 15 months earlier, surprises us by not creating as much havoc, damage and tragedy as first predicted. We want to be pleasantly surprised Sandy!

However, there is an urgency in the air. Yesterday, people were buying food, water and supplies to hopefully last them a few days. Today, most stores are closed and stock is sold out.

My husband and I, and some of our friends that live in our neighbourhood are not too rattled or worried to be honest (at the moment anyway). We don’t live on the waterfront and we live in apartments not houses. We remain sensible by staying indoors and have prepared ourselves as much as we can by buying enough food, candles and batteries etc. to see us through (we hope).

We hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Stay tuned for more Sandy updates…