The Ever Changing Face of Seaside Heights
Good afternoon everyone. I hope you are enjoying this mild February weather. I am loving it. As some of you may know and remember our beloved Jersey Shore suffered through a devastating event on October 29, 2012. Superstorm Sandy developed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22nd and quickly grew in intensity slowly making her way north. She began as a tropical storm that upgraded to a hurricane. I'm still not quite certain why she was named a "superstorm" but it sure fit the bill. Myself and my boyfriend, now my husband had just moved to Toms River on the open water. We were there a total of 29 days before tragedy struck. Since other storms were always hyped up and then produced anything significant we were convinced by neighbors to ride it out and we did just that.
That evening was just like any other. I made a delicious roast beef dinner and was cleaning up the kitchen while Tony was putting on "The Walking Dead" in the living room. We settled in with some popcorn to watch our favorite show. Partway through the episode the cable had went out. Not 100% sure the impending storm was causing the issue we called the cable company to find out. Mid phone call all the power went out in the house and we told the nice lady at the cable company we knew exactly what the problem was. Instead of sitting in the dark we grabbed some candles and had a few drinks at the kitchen high top.
The entire back of our home was made up of sliding glass doors. It was such a beautiful view to our backyard and extended dock. I was pretty sure we were going to be ok since the water would have to make quite the journey to reach our backdoor. We watched as the water rose but thankfully it was still in the bay where it belonged. The news said that high tide was around 9:00pm or so and we were relieved when that time came and went. Unfortunately we weren't thinking clearly because the high tide the news spoke of was for the ocean and not the bay where we lived. Our high tide had yet to come and come it did. We watched the water slowly rise up to the dock, over the bulkhead and into the yard. Ok, it still had to come up and over the deck and it couldn't possibly go up that far. Or could it? Closer and closer it came. Higher and higher it rose until it was at those back sliding doors. My brother suggested placing towels and blankets along the floor to soak up any water that might come in. I was up for trying anything to keep it out. Just then I heard Tony yelling from the living room that the water was coming up through the vents in the flooring!!! It was coming up so fast that the only thing I remember Tony saying was I needed to "man up" so we can try and save as many of our belongings as possible.
The house was so dark except for a few candles and little lights we strapped to our heads. At first we were running around in ankle deep water trying to decide how to get some of the furniture to the second floor. Tony is big and strong but I am not. I did as he asked and "manned up" the best I could and we moved heavy pieces of furniture to the upstairs bedrooms. Some pieces we couldn't move were the solid wood desk, the bedroom furniture and the reclining couches. The couches were sacrificed to save my curio cabinet and our brand new 65" TV. Now the water is up to our knees and I see some of my shoes floating around and I broke down crying. I just couldn't believe this was happening. We were exhausted and our lights were dying so we decided that it is what it is and will assess the the rest of the damage in the morning. Before bed we sat at the kitchen high top with our belongings floating around our feet watching an entire neighbor catch on fire across the bay. I cried some more. I cried for us, I cried for our neighbors, I cried for our beloved island that I know was being destroyed. We headed to bed to hopefully to wake up tomorrow and find it was all a nightmare.
We woke up the next morning and the house was freezing. We slept in one of the upstairs spare rooms with as many blankets as we could pile on the bed. I didn't want to go downstairs but Tony said we needed to start cleaning. Cleaning? Why I asked? What is the point? He said we need to save what we can before it gets moldy. Good point. When I walked down the stairs I could not believe what I was seeing. The water had receded but the muck and mud from the bay had remained all over my house. It was everywhere. In the refrigerator, the stove, any and all cabinets, drawers, in the pots and pans, the dryer, everywhere. We did the best we could to hand dry things we wanted to save and wash and rinse pots, pans etc. but we had no electricity to do too much. We were also flooded in and no one could leave or come into our neighborhood for two days!!! We were freezing and hungry.
The two days passed without much to eat and the only way to keep warm was to bundle up. Finally Tony was able to leave for work but that meant I was left in the dark, wet, cold house all by myself over night. It was so scary. The next day a boy scout troop set up a little tented area with hot coffee and soup. Best soup ever! The following day friends who had power invited us over for a hot meal and a shower. They let us do laundry too! It was absolutely wonderful. Its amazing how we take the most basic things for granted in our daily lives.
After about a week I just was so miserable but something good happened. My father got power at his home in Somerset. Me, my bunny, Gabby and two turtles, Speedy & Fred went to crash at his place. We were warm and safe but poor Tony had to stay behind for his job. He lived another 2 weeks in that cold house taking cold showers. I felt awful for him. But, then he found out he could move into a hotel that was set up for emergency workers. Now he was safe and warm too.
Right after Christmas we found a temporary rental in Manahawkin where we would spend the next year until moving into a condo in Seaside Heights. What a crazy journey and experience Sandy was. I do know I would never want to experience that ever again. My heart always goes out to anyone in the path of a hurricane. Mother Nature is not to be messed with.
