Trifecta

I just finished Night by Elie Wiesel for our book club, which was a very big mistake to read before going to bed, especially when I actually have to set an alarm clock and be up early in the morning. Instead of lying awake for any longer, I figured I would do a little bit of writing and watch some Jersey Shore before trying to rest my eyelids again.

Random grocery store somewhere on the East Coast...

For those who have been living under a rock for the last week, the east coast has been rocked with an earthquake, a hurricane, and a few tornadoes over the last few days. First came the earthquake, which occurred on Tuesday afternoon, and pretty much scared the shit out of anyone who had never experienced a quake. I was actually at my friend Pat's house, during the quake, where the language arts department was having a meeting of the minds. While sitting at the table discussing UbD, the entire house started to shake, which resulted in Pat hollering at her daughter for running around in the basement. After her daughter came upstairs and the house was still shaking, everyone in the room quickly realized that something wasn't right and we all ran outside to investigate. We quickly realized that we weren't the only one's on the street whose house vibrated. All of the adults in the house immediately began using our cell phones to try to reach our loved ones, out of curiosity as to whether they had felt the rumbling from below.

Cell phones were not operational for about an hour, since all lines were jammed with people trying to reach their loved ones. Diddy finally sent me a text telling me that an earthquake had occurred in Voorhees (where I was presently at), completely unaware that I was actually in Voorhees. I chuckled at the thought that she actually thought the earthquake was in Jersey, let alone in Voorhees. After several texts back and forth, she finally realized that the quake actually occurred in another state, but we both agreed that it was a scary, yet exciting experience.

After getting home and reading the humorous status updates about the quake on Facebook, I soon realized that a hurricane was quickly approaching the east coast. "Are you fucking kidding me," was my first reaction, followed by rationally trying to prepare my brain for how to prepare for a hurricane. The idea of a major storm faded from my brain until Thursday night, when Rachel's daddy called her about the mandatory evacuation of her Aunt Pepper from the Jersey shore. Aunt Pepper is Rachel's 76 year old great aunt, who loves the casinos and cigarettes.

Rachel and I decide that Aunt Pepper would stay with us for the weekend, and developed a game plan that involved picking up her brother Paul on Friday morning, then head to Longport to pack up her house and prepare it for the storm. Aunt Pepper lives less than a block away from the ocean, in a beautiful shore house, where she lives all year round. After arriving at her house, the three of us pack all of her patio furniture from the front and back porch into her living room and outdoor shower. Out of fear of losing power for an extended amount of time and losing some of her frozen food, Aunt Pepper packed some very tasty foods for her weekend in the Langmore, such as filet migon, shrimp, hamburgers, eggs, cheese, breakfast sausage, and butter. After loading up her bags and food into the car, we then made the trip back to Mullica Hill, with Paul driving her car back.

On the way home, Rachel and I witnessed a Wawa cyphon gas from the pumps, in preparation for the hurricane. Even with the mandatory evacuation of Aunt Pepper, the severity of the storm had not actually fully hit me until witnessing the gas being cyphon at Wawa. After getting home, Rachel, Paul, and I began to prepare our building for the storm, removing the community patio furniture and rubber mat from the first floor porch, removing an extremely loose plank of wood from the outside of the building, and helping the Mullica Hill Flower Shop put away some of their flowers. Rachel and I then dropped Paul off at his house, and ran out the store to attempt to find water and fuses. Of course, water by this point was a rare commodity, but we eventually found some at Big Lots. Nobody had emergency candles in Jersey, so we had to settle with cheap, stinky candles from Big Lots also.

The following morning, Paul met us for breakfast at the Harrison House. After a hearty breakfast, the ladies headed back to the Langmore once again, where we planned to brace the storm. The rain started around noon, and Rachel and I both realized that our garage was bound to flood during the storm. After moving our cars to the safest location in the parking lot, the two of us tackled the garage, creating a barricade using Rubbermaid containers. We also had some empty crates in the garage, which we flipped over to create a platform to keep a wooden bed frame, a window fan unit, a box fan, and two of my kitchen chairs off the ground, in the hopes that they wouldn't become water logged. We also brought in a few important things from the garage, such as two containers of old video game systems, a box of dolls that Rachel's mom had been holding onto from Rachel's childhood, and a box of childhood books that her father had recently given to Rachel.

Moments after we finished our project, the rain began to get extremely heavy, and within 90 minutes, we noticed the puddle in front of the garage was turning into a lake. I headed back to the garage to try to barricade the door with logs, but couldn't find any that were suitable. Rachel then came up with the ingenious idea of using the wooden planks from the make shift garden surrounding the large tree in the parking lot. We used the wooden planks to create a make shift damn instead.

For the remainder of the evening, the three of us watched as the rain increased and the winds began to get heavier and heavier. Around 8 pm, we briefly lost power, so when it flickered back on, Rachel and Aunt Pepper jumped at the opportunity to start making dinner. As we were eating a delicious meal of filet migon, apple and grape salad, and pea soup, Diddy texts me about a tornado that's heading right for Mullica Hill.

Shit gets fucking scary from here.

Rachel goes into panic mode, turning on the television where the television goes crazy with this annoying, piercing noise and the tornado warning scrolling across the bottom of the screen. The tornado was heading for Mullica Hill, then Glassboro and Pitman afterwards. Rachel makes us stop eating and head for the basement, where we regain our composure and start to make phone calls again. Diddy, at this point, is chuckling because the tornado warning had been lifted, while Rachel is on the other phone with her mom, whose telling her that the tornado warning was lasting for another 20 minutes. After giving the tornado a few minutes, I decide to be brave and check to see whether there is actually anything even going on in the neighborhood. I expected to see an empty street (or at least a flooded street).

Instead, I witness a the tunneling winds of a tornado coming down our street. My feet are like bricks, as I watch the winds circle, picking up leaves and water off the road into its funnel. I finally regain my composure and make a sprinting run for the basement, almost falling down the wet stairs to tell Rachel and Aunt Pepper about the tornado. I immediately call my sister to tell her that "a mother fucking cyclone is coming down the fucking road...what the fuck!"

Moments later, the power goes out, so now we're sitting in a dark basement, which is freaking me the fuck out. After roughly ten minutes, I noticed the winds have died down. We decide it is safe to go back into the apartment, and try to head back upstairs only to be soaked by the water pouring out of the porch above us. The already weak boards on our porch had given way, cracking under the pressure of the downpour of rain. After getting inside, Rachel and I start checking the apartment for damage, realizing that both the bathroom and kitchen windows are leaking, along with both windows with air conditioners in them. While searching for water leaks and damage, we also notice several spots damaged from the earthquake, such as a previously small crack in the ceiling becoming bigger.

I'm not sure whether it was the actual site of the tornado or the hype of the storm, but after checking for damage my brain went into a rational yet panic feeling. I immediately went into a calm overdrive, in which I grabbed everything I could that was important to me, and shoved it in a backpack, this way if we were forced to suddenly evacuate I would feel more prepared. Rachel, began to do the same thing, yet in a more frenzied state. After packing her bag, the two of us rearranged the entire apartment, so that the couch was in the hallway, away from all of the windows.

Later in the night, Rachel and I both shared what was in our "emergency bag," which was actually an amusing exercise. My backpack consisted of my jewelry box, my GPS, a phone charger, my safety deposit box (which contains my teaching certification and SS card), a phone charger for the car, and my wallet. Rachel's bag was much more practical, with three bottles of water, a change of clothes, and other necessities. It was actually amusing to see that I packed more sentimental items, while Rachel packed practical items.

East Lake Road
Woodstown, NJ

The aftermath in Jersey depended on the location. The shore was barely hit during the storm, while most of the inland was flooded. The bridge near our home was flooded and closed for several days, while East Lake Road, in Woodstown was completely destroyed. Every river in the state flooded, due mainly to the amount of rain fall. Additionally, flash floods occurred throughout the state, that resulted in the death of a young woman in Salem County, when a flash flood swept her car away.

The power outage at our house only lasted for several hours, but several people were stuck without power for several days. On Sunday night, Berman's family still did not have power. Rachel and I had assessed our apartment to see how we could arrange furniture so they could sleep in our apartment. Berman wound up having power in the morning, so there was no amazing sleep over for us (frowny face).

Aunt Pepper went home on Monday to a damage free house. There was absolutely no water in the house, nor any debris scattered across her porch. It was as if a storm never even occurred in Longport.

After all of the hype and talk of the storm, Rachel and I have decided we will never name our child Irene, because our daughter would wind up being a giant disappointment...