I left my home in Hoboken, N.J. on August 26. The idea was to spend a night at my parents’ home and then head to the Jersey Shore for our annual family beach vacation through Labor Day.
What actually happened was Hurricane Irene warnings that prompted the mayor of Hoboken to evacuate first-floor apartments because of the severe flooding probability. Since I was already leaving Hoboken, that was a no-brainer. I actually had a place to go — a beach house.
But lo and behold, the town of Lavallette was also evacuated by order of the governor with the rest of the Jersey Shore so I wound up spending the weekend at my parents’ retirement community in Central Jersey.
Here’s what transpired during and after the storm. Their community had no power outage, no flooding, almost no damage while those just a few miles away were without power. In Hoboken, my building incurred no damage while those just blocks away were flooded and some had no power. And to boot, our rented beach house was in a town that had only big puddles and some sand on the boardwalk to show for its encounter with Irene. We moved in the day after the storm and enjoyed glorious weather right through Labor Day. Meanwhile, the pictures on the news of the storm’s wrath were unbearable.
I feel like I dodged three bullets. So blessed to have come away from such a vicious storm relatively unscathed.
So blessed.
