Super Storm Sandy…One Year Later & Some Overdue Thank Yous

It is hard to believe that it has been exactly a year since Super Storm Sandy hit.  We call it hurricane Sandy but technically, it was a super storm.

I would love to tell you that everything is back to normal but it isn’t for everyone.  These photos were taken in the summer and fall.  Many families are still battling with insurance companies and some families are waiting on grants to raise their homes.  Devastation like this had not been seen on Long Island since 1938.

Here is are photo recaps of the damage from Super Storm Sandy on 10/29/12.

Before the Sandy even reached land.  It was high tide when the storm surge hit.

School was closed for over a week.  Many of us teachers spent our time helping friends, family, and the community anyway we could.  It took a long time before things began to look normal.

My classroom aide had to shower at my house every morning before work for about a month.  Her basement was flooded and her electricity and hot water no longer worked.

I was really proud of the teachers at my school.  Once school started again, we had a week long dress down and donated $5 each day.  Gift certificates were purchased to help those at my school affected.

Teachers gathered to donate and distribute supplies.

Everything had to be thrown out from flooded homes.  The streets were flooded with seawater, oil from oil tanks, and sewage.   What was left was a disgusting sludge.

The kids missed Halloween because of the flooding, down power lines, and the mess on the roads.  There was a curfew and the national guard was all over.  Looters were taking advantage of the situation.   Gas lines were crazy!  You did not want to drive anywhere.  Most people still did not have cable or power.  I think it was almost a week before I got power back and even longer before I got the internet back!

My mother’s school in Lindenhurst is near the water and many of the families at that school lost their homes and the contents.  The school I teach is further north and did not have the flooding that was seen further south.  My mom saw all the things being thrown out and thought of how all of their books would have to be thrown away, too.   She began asking for donations of books and then I offered to ask for help on my blog, in a post.   I also reached out to my editors at Scholastic and they were sooo generous.   The response was overwhelming!  We actually had to have two evenings with about 10 teachers including my mom, a teacher/member of camp bulldog, and myself to sort the books by grade level.  After we sorted, we bagged them for the students.

My mom was great about mailing out thank you notes.  I planned on doing a blog post and never got around to it!  So here are my long overdue thank yous!