There's complete devastation in Northern New Jersey. Last night's storm ripped out trees and brought down power lines. We lost cable, Internet and phone service, but we were the lucky ones. My parents and my sister's family have no power, water, or heat. They came by thus afternoon with the contents of their freezers. We made a random meal of formerly frozen shells, shrimp, and pigs in a blanket.
We have to boil all the water, because it's contaminated. There's water in the basement. Schools are closed.
Two poor guys were killed in Teaneck as they walked home from services at their Temple. A tree fell on them.
I'm plugging this in on my iPhone, which isn't terribly easy. But I'm super happy to have it now. Not sure when we'll be back in business.
Apt. 11d 
Hope all is better soon and everybody stays safe.
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Man, Laura, thinking of you.
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I’m so sorry. We have basement flooding, but not too bad yet. And we have power and internet. My sister said Sloatsburg had bad flooding–said 17 and the Thruway were closed. They opened a gate near the rest area to let locals into town.
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oh dear, I’m sorry about that, particularly about your family members and the two guys. š¦ Geeky mom has a flooded basement too… We had a power outage Friday night and nearly a flood in the basement but we cleaned and now it’s nearly dry.
I hope conditions improve soon. If if would only stop raining!!
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Good luck!
We generally have basic emergency supplies (water, cash, paper plates, plastic utensils, candles, wood for the fireplace we don’t normally use, matches, easy-to-prepare foods), but there are a couple of problem areas that I haven’t dealt with yet. 1. How to heat food and water in the absence of electricity (camping stove? but how safe is it to store the fuel in the garage year-round?). 2. We do have cold snaps in the winter even in Texas, but they don’t last. Much more pressing is the question of what to do in case of extended loss of AC during the summer (when it’s 100+ during the daytime). Drive until we find a motel with AC? That seems wimpy, but prudent. When we buy a house, I am thinking of putting in a set-up for catching rainwater, since extra water is always nice to have around.
I grew up in the country with frequent electrical outages. We had a well and an electric pump for our water, so we’d lose the water almost immediately after the electricity went out. On the other hand, we had a wood stove, which is fine for heating soup, making oatmeal, etc, as well as adequate for providing basic heat. You can also dry blue jeans on top of a warm wood stove in a pinch. I would be concerned about a wood stove around little kids, though.
While I was googling around while I was writing this, I kept bumping into survivalist discussion forums.
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I’m grateful for power and internet, though the internet has been flakey (it was before the storms, though). Our basement is no longer flooded, but still really wet, and the great cleanup will likely begin tomorrow when the rain stops. We’ve decided to call in professionals.
We did have to restart the water heater, which was partially under water, but the furnace is high enough off the ground that it remained running. Frankly, the whole thing pisses me off. Oh, and the puppy peed on my pants.
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I hope things improve very soon, Laura and Laura.
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Hope things work out well and quickly.
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Take care.
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Just saw the news about the storms in this morning’s paper; I wondered how my friends in that part of the country were doing. Sounds bad! Hope things stay dry enough for repairs to start soon.
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Thanks, guys. It is mostly a good adventure. Except for the puddles in the basement. That’s just annoying. Taking the boys to the gym with me. We’re going to take pictures of downed trees along the way. It’s our art project.
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Speaking of fallen things, now that the snow is gone I just noticed that when our gutter fell from the weight of the ice, it hit the ground with enough force to break through a concrete patio paver.
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Hey Laura — I should have brought over our freezer to you as well! We’re still out and the house is getting colder.
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P.S. This does push me toward buying an iphone. I’m also particularly grateful for gas stoves and water heaters.
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Laura,
If you guys need a place to stay, you’re more than welcome to come here (amazingly enough [knock wood!], we were not even inconvenienced by the storm).
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Thanks so much, Mary Catherine. We’re okay now. I heard that your area got hit, too. Glad you weren’t inconvenienced at all. Just talked to woman who has six inches of water in her finished basement. Yukko. I owe you a phone call.
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