Afterwards, we walked down to Bowery to grab a bite. On the way, we noticed all sorts of signs of Sandy in the neighborhood. Like these palettes of food piled up on the street outside of the church.
The police station looked like something out of a Resident Evil movie. Cracked glass door, nobody inside, dark except for STROBING emergency lighting. STAY AWAY!
Thursday was Meredith, Ellen and my third, consecutive day cooped-up in an 8' x 10' room with 3 dogs in Meredith's parent's apartment, after being displaced by Hurricane Sandy! Meredith is laughing because I don't like to eat pumpkin or squash and so now that we'd split up she was reading-up on pumpkin & squash recipes. Hahahah. So good
The storm also stopped Mer's grandmother from flying back to Cleveland, so her parent's apartment was pretty filled-up! The three of us (plus 3 dogs!) converted Chuck's office into a makeshift crash-pad for the next few days. It was close-quarters, but it sure as heck beat sitting around in an apartment with no heat!
When I awoke the next morning, all the water had receded, but the neighborhood was a mess. The apartment was without heat, electricity and cell-phone service! That afternoon, I biked over to to Chelsea on the west-side to find a cell signal. I managed to get in touch with Meredith...
At 9:30, the power finally went out. (I was amazed that it had stayed on as long as it did!). The street was still lit by the eerie glow of emergency lighting...
...this dude out wading around in the flood waters. Here he is taking a rest holding onto the metal box that houses all of the high-voltage circuits for the traffic lights. Smart!
Fifteen minutes later, the water had gotten high enough to start setting off car alarms! I was a really strange sight to see the street turned into a literal RIVER while all of the cars flashed their lights and made muffled honking sounds UNDER the water.
Ave C between 8th & 9th. See how that black car looks like it has its headlights on? The water rose high enough that it completed the circuit on the car battery turning the lights on. Weird!
I had a quiet day at home on Monday waiting for the storm to arrive. According to the NYC Hurricane Evacuation map , my apartment was in an area label for mandatory evacuation. I figured I'd rather spend a few days roughing it in the apartment with Maddy over heading to one of the big NYC group-shelters. Besides, how bad could it get anyway? Around 7:30pm, the streets below my apartment started to flood. Ruh-oh!
