Sandy Hits Close to Home

As we all witnessed on Monday and Tuesday, Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast with brutal force, high winds, immense tidal surge and many inches of rain.  As I weathered the storm in my Mccauliffe dorm room, my family and friends were dealing with the full force of the storm in New Jersey.  As an out of state student, you find yourself thinking about home a lot, but you never have to wonder if it will still be standing the next time you return.  Those horrid thoughts ran through my mind throughout the entirety of the storm as all power and cell service was lost in my hometown of Waretown, New Jersey, and I had no way to contact my family or friends. 
Luckily the storm caused only some siding to be torn from the side of my home, and power to be lost until 7 o'clock tonight.  I say luckily because of the massive amount of destruction and devastation, Sandy caused to the surrounding communities I have called home my entire life. 
Possibly the hardest hit area was Long Beach Island, a barrier island in New Jersey, just ten minutes from my home, that is one of the most popular vacation spots on the Jersey shore.  LBI was always a second home to me, a place to get away from everything and enjoy the empty secluded beaches in the winter months, or the lively summer scene and great food when the weather warmed up.  The "island" as it is referred to by many locals, is a place like no other on the shoreline of New Jersey. 
Massive storm surges, large amounts of rain and wind gusts that exceeded 100 mph in some areas, left the island completely submerged as the bay met the ocean for the first time since a Nor'easter 1962. Many houses were completely submerged under water and some were even washed out to sea.  Places I hung out my whole life and the beaches I spent so much time at were completely reshaped as feet of beach sand were dumped into homes, yards, and onto the streets of LBI.  Many boats were found in people's yards as well after the storm subsided, a sight that is almost unbelievable.
The past few days I have been able to contact my mother who is without power, and have had to keep her up to date on what is going on in the state.  Friends on Facebook have been posting videos and photographs from the island that are truly heartbreaking to see.  Seeing people's homes ruined, and the community I called my own covered in feet of sand and some places still under water is truly a devastating sight.
Long Beach Island is in such bad shape that its residents will not be allowed back on for 10-15 days at the least according to local officials.  It is amazing to see how wide of an affect this storm had on the country, causing  problems from North Carolina, up to Maine.  I hope all my fellow Falcons can keep the residents in my hometown in their thoughts and prayers as I do the same for those people who were affected by the storm right here in Connecticut.  It is times like these that make it tough to be an out of state student, but it is also times like these that make us feel very fortunate for all that we have. 

This photo taken by Andrew Warren, depicts the main road on Long Beach Island.  On the right is Scojo's restaurant, my favorite place to eat on the island.

A video of much of the devastation and destruction done to LBI can be found at this link: http://www.necn.com/10/30/12/Hurricane-Sandy-aftermath-Raw-video-from/landing.html?blockID=795357