It's the fourth day since the east coast was hit by Hurricane Sandy. The storm made landfall along the Jersey coast and we felt the effects in New York starting Sunday night. Around 6pm, Monday, we lost power on Tibbett Avenue. Tuesday night Emma and I moved her queen mattress to the living room and we built a fire in the fireplace. Wednesday night we all went to dinner at Tom and Rachel's and returned home with more wood for another fire. Con Ed says it could be another week before Riverdale gets any repair service. Or did they say it will be at least a week before we see Con Ed in this neighborhood?
Monday we put away all the loose parts in the garden - chairs, tools, pots. The wind was high up in the trees most of Monday morning and early afternoon. By evening it had moved down to the ground though there was only light rain. We never did get much of a downpour as expected while the tidal waves along the coast were much larger than anticipated. When the power went out on Monday we had just finished watching an episode of Homeland. The air in the house was intense. The wind outside was constant.
Tuesday we helped move some large branches out of the yard. The gardeners came through and cleaned up most of the tree debris by noon. We were lucky not to lose any trees around the house. The only loss was the trellis I had rebuilt after the old one collapsed during the summer. The rest of the day we cleaned. Emma and I made our way through the pantry, the tea cabinet, and the liquor cabinet. We filled three bags of trash which are still sitting in the kitchen with no where to go. It's not clear when NYC will start collecting trash again. We took a walk down the street and only made it as far as the bend to Manhattan College. A power pole came down on a car that was parked there. Turns out it's Samiyrah's car. We walked the other direction up the street toward 246th Street and stopped just before the school driveway. The acorn tree outside the business office, the tree everyone complained about in the fall for dropping (or having help from squirrels dropping) acorns on the car hoods and denting them, came down on the power line, brought down all the wires with it and cracked the pole. The street is dark. Con Ed was on the corner for a while, but when they left the corner of Tibbett and 246th was wrapped in caution tape and the power has remained off. The wires are draped to the ground all down the block.
Tuesday night Tom went up to Cold Spring to see his house. The Hudson overflowed and they had two feet of water in the first floor; two feet of salt water. The floors buckled and the first floor needs to be rebuilt. Lost everything not up on a shelf including many of the antiques and autographed Hudson River history books. While he was cleaning up in Cold Spring, Rachel had a few families over for dinner in Riverdale. Their house has power even though much of the campus does not.
Wednesday we ventured farther and made it over to Johnson Avenue for breakfast at Cafe Blue. As we passed by the downed electric pole we noticed that it, the wires and the car had been wrapped in yellow caution tape. We are catching on that this is Con Ed-speak for we see you, but we'll be back later. Shopped as though we were bringing supplies back to a cave: a new flashlight and headlamp for Greg, Halloween candy for the eyeball bowl, and candles. We noticed the post office was open and came home to two pieces of junk mail. Tom and Rachel grilled dinner and the house was filled with the post-trick or treating energy of all the kids. The bigger excitement was when they broke a glass vase and Tom had to take out his EMT first aid kit to apply a band aid to one child's cut. Greg came to dinner this time and Marcio drove him and Emma home with two bundles of wood for the fire place. The Moreira's are also without power.
Wednesday afternoon we had an administrative meeting in Tom's office. There was heat which made it easy to think about solutions. After years of trying to de-intensify a calendar that only seemed to get more and more intense with activities, we talked about restricting school time to school when we reopen next week; having the students go to class and then go home at 3:15pm dismissal. Is this back to basics? An attempt to remember why we have school?
Today is Thursday, day four, and school is closed through the weekend. The refrigerator is now warmer than the air temperature and the air in the house is cooler than outside. Bundled up indoors it's easy to forget it's fall outside, not winter. That's a lucky thing. We're hoping to get a generator soon so we can have heat and hot water. Right now that would make a big difference. The news from the City isn't that hopeful as they try to get the subway running again. This is the second time in two years that they've shut the system down for the weather. The mayor says the system can't handle the extreme effects of global warming.
It didn't seem on Sunday that this would be a transformative event, but it feels that way now. Is it possible that New York City will never be the same? Have we revealed weaknesses that magnify the geographic size and population and make it a city that can't sustain itself? What has changed that the mayor now says our advice is that you stay safe because we are not able to come to you in the next 24 hours. Con Ed won't get to you for 7-10 days.
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