Surviving Hurricane Irene

Last Sunday morning Hurricane Irene (by then Tropical Storm Irene) hit our area in New York. I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the "storm." I had been awakened by storms in Iowa that I where I thought the roof was going to be torn right off the house - this seemed minor in comparison. It was raining heavily, but when I assessed the damage in our yard there weren't many limbs down - so I assumed it wasn't as bad as they had led everyone to believe. We had stocked up on water bottles and had filled our bathtub with water (a tip given to me by a friend). And waited .... our power flickered on and off all morning long, and the rain came down.

This is a picture of our little creek (it was literally almost dried up two days before this) the water just exploded.The biggest challenge facing us at that point was the water - our basement started to flood inspite of the sump pump. The fire chief brought over another pump to supplement us. The basement at that point had about 10 inches of water in it. Then the electricity finally bit the dust at noon. We headed to a friends for lunch, hoping it would come back on soon. We picked up some ice on our way home as a precaution to pack in the refrigerator. As we drove into our driveway at lunch we saw lights on and started to do a little celebration dance, so happy that it had only lasted for a few hours. We checked the basement and saw that all of the water had been pumped out! We thougth we were in the clear and then at about 9:00 p.m. the power went out for good. This is where things get really interesting. We were without power until yesterday. We lived without power and water (our well is private so therefore no power, no water) for 5 1/2 days. It was indeed a learning experience - and we have gained a HUGE testimony of being prepared. We are also grateful that our water was pumped out the basement and that we had wonderful, wonderful friends with power and water that let us shower, do laundry, and borrow water from them. It was a lot like camping in our house.

My kids were troopers and made the best out our living conditions. Poor Sam was battling diarrhea and without water to flush the toilets this made for many trips with buckets of water, and a nasty - nasty residue in the toilets. I was glad that I'd been camping so often as a child, and remembered ways to create a "wash bucket" (thanks to Grandpa Grant) for washing hands, and to wash dishes. We were also VERY blessed to have a grill with a heating element connected to our propane tanks that we could use for cooking. Our meals turned out fine, and the only problem with food we had was trying to find ways to keep it cold. We got ice from the store and the local authorities also handed out dry ice for people to use to keep their food cold. We used up as much of our food as possible - so that we wouldn't waste it. After a week of living like this my patience was frayed and we finally surrendered to the convience of electricity and running water on Friday. We've decided that heaven is in fact toilets that flush, running hot water, and lights that turn on in the dark.

If I'm being fully honest with effects of this experience - I can say that I don't like living in a place that is prone to flooding, and doesn't bury their power lines which even without storms are tangled in the trees. I mean come on people, fork out the money - I'm sure it would be worth the stress, expense, and headache that are caused by trying to restore power after weather related issues like this. I am also glad (I'm sure this feeling will increase with the passage of time - right now it is somewhat small) for this experience - it has really been a life lesson learned! I'll be posting on emergency preparedness next - please read it! A lot of stuff we didn't think about until after the fact, and that could be too late if the circumstances were different.

I also need to note that our experience is minor compared to what some people in the east are dealing with. Many lost everything, and my heart goes out to them. We are very grateful to still have a roof over head, our possessions, NOW power and running water - still cold and probably will be cold for a few more days!