Are you OK?

Our best wishes and prayers to all of you who were in the path of Super Storm Sandy.

It was not much of a storm here in southern New Hampshire, but we've already heard from friends who live on the south shore of Long Island who have lost their homes.

We hope you are all OK!

Jim & Donna

Thanks for the concern... I'm alright here in East Patchogue. Lots of flooding along the south shore, including Patchogue village. Went east to the home my parents moved into this weekend and it fortunately was dry - but not by much. The yard was filled with debris and there was 4 feet of water in the shed and yard.

Thank you for asking everyone within NPN, J&D.

I've moved away but almost my whole family lives in NJ, all without power but no major damage thankfully. That's almost a miracle, my sister is in Toms River, two miles from Seaside Heights on the shore where the roller coaster and most of the boardwalk are now crumpled and sitting in the ocean. She said it looks like a war zone in her neighborhood (via a text today, calls wouldn't go through).

The really amazing thing I can't imagine is Breezy Point, Queens, dozens of homes burnt to the foundation. I used to work somewhat near there. The shot on the news really DID look like London in 1941 after the Blitz. How horrible for those folks, but everyone affected really.

I finally heard from my brother tonight that he is OK in Freehold, NJ but without power. He lives close to Belmar, Point Pleasant, Seaside Heights shore areas which were completely devastated by the storm. I grew up in NJ and still have many family there too. Still trying to get in touch with some. Seems phone service, whether cell or land line, is seriously compromised. Thanks for asking.

Thanks for checking, Donna.
Those of us in the Northern Half of NY State and all of Vermont just had a some wind with minimal damage. My relatives in in Southern PA and inland NJ got a lot of wind and rain with electric power interruptions but their power is back on now. All of us in those areas had floods last year, and hundreds of acres of old forests just slid off the some of the mountain slopes (trees, soil, bears and all) then, so we were happy to escape this year. But IT'S NOT OVER YET! We still need to do what we can to help people on the Atlantic coast, AND DON'T FORGET the people in West Virginia and surrounding areas (even Western Maryland are still without power) that got heavy snow, which of course is notorious for knocking out power and isolating people in rural areas. WE CAN HELP: http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations

Jim & Donna,

Thanks for your concern and I am glad that you made out ok. Unfortunately LI & NYC did not do very well. While I have not been out of the Town of Brookhaven since Saturday due to work, I can tell you IMO LI will never be the same. The south shore sustained incredible damage from water & wind. If you have seen the photos & videos they are far from the whole story.

In some areas the damage seems similar to that of Hurricane Katrinia.Fire Island as expected sustained incredible damage, with breeches in several areas. From what I under stand Ocean Parkway (Robert Mosses State Pk to Jones Beach State Pk) collapsed in several areas.

IMO damaged accessment will takes weeks if not months. The debris fields on the streets is amazing. While I fortunately have never been in a war, I can equate the south shore to a war zone. The north shore also sustained heavy damage to the low lying areas & the bluffs.

Besides the damage to personal property and the deaths & injuries, the natural habitats that we are use to seeing & photographing may never be the same. I guess only time will tell. I will tell you this, after seeing what I have this week, which is only a small portion of the damage, if LI ever takes a direct hit from a major hurricane, alot of the island will not be there.

Rich Hahn

We lost huge trees, but none fell on our houses. We are so lucky. Some fell parallel to our small house by the forest - they were large enough to demolish it, but spared us. Many of our neighbors were not so lucky.

We will be without power for 3 weeks. That is the best estimate of the power company. We have 3 houses (2 rented) on our property on top of a mountain. Our power lines run up the mountain through dense forest, and we are the end of the line. No electric company/ tree service trucks can access the power line through the forest: it all will have to be cleared by hand. There are 15+ trees down directly over our lines. It will take them days just for us, and because it's just our little compound, we are literally LAST on the list of priorities in the State of NJ. Luckily, we have generators that run everything. Obtaining gasoline has become very difficult in NJ however. Late last night we drove to Pennsylvania to fill our gas cans.

I will post pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like in our area as soon as a wifi hot spot is established in our town. For now, we are all very grateful for our smartphones with Internet access!

Thanks for checking Jim & Donna. We have been without power since Monday evening. . . supposed to get power by Sunday 11:00 pm hopefully! We were able to borrow a generator to keep our freezer, frig, and a few lights on periodically. Keeping warm by our fireplace. Wearing layers of clothing and many blankets at night for sleeping. The winds we experienced Monday eve were very scary! Lots of things going bang and boom in the night. Around 80mph winds for several hours. We had a huge tree fall in our backyard but caused minimal damage. Many, many downed trees everywhere one goes. My daughter has power so go there periodically to shower, get warm, use WiFi. . . and get coffee! This is definitely NOT fun but so many have it far worse. . .our prayers and thoughts are with the many victims. Hopefully things will be back to "normal" by next week. It's a little scary how dependent we are on electricity for so much . . .

As a fellow Patchogue resident - I echo Rich Hahn's comments. I too haven't been able to get out much because of work obligations (including driving around to see what traffic lights are not functioning) as well as the current gas shortage. But from the photos I've seen and what I've seen from driving around at work - it's really ugly. I can't image what this place would look like if we got hit by a Cat 1 or 2 head on.

Fire island is unrecognizable in many places - and there were many breaches on Dune Road. There's a predicted Nor'Easter coming this way which may hit the Island next week - causing further devastation of our barrier beaches.

To echo Wayne's comment, we can help. I can not believe the photos I've seen in the places where I grew up, the places my family and I vacationed in Jersey from when I was a young child to places we have gone with our children. UNBELIEVABLE! Still have not been able to contact some family members there.

BTW - HBO is broadcasting a special concert tonight to help raise money for the Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy on the east coast and beyond. It is unbelievable how far reaching this storm was.

Thoughts and prayers to all those both here on NPN and elsewhere who were impacted by this terrible storm. Here in Maryland we mostly had wind, rain and scattered loss of power. Some never lost power, some lost for a couple of hours, we lost for 16 hours, some lost for a few days. Nothing close to the devastation of Long Island, Manhattan, Staten Island and northern New Jersey. We did our share by contributing to American Red Cross.

We hope life will return to normal ASAP - as much as that may be possible - for everyone.