Hurricane Sandy struck one year ago. It seems to be the topic of the day, so I might as well chime in for a paragraph or two, or three.
It was on a Monday, and I usually hit the newsroom around 2:15 AM. I decided to come in a little early, and as I was getting dressed, I could hear a strong wind howling outside my windows. The lights flickered for a moment, and I fully expected to be plunged in to darkness. I lucked out. It didn't happen. My power stayed on throughout the storm.
I met up with a photographer at the office, We loaded up a satellite van and headed for Stroudsburg. The wind became even more fierce as we got to the top of the mountain in the Tobyhanna/Mount Pocono area, and the van got knocked around pretty good as we traveled south on Interstate 380. I noticed an absence of tractor trailers on the road. You know it's bad when they park to avoid the wind. We made Stroudsburg without incident.
The image that stays with me most that day happened as we came down off the exit ramp onto Main Street in Stroudsburg. It's a busy street 24/7. On this morning, it was dark and quiet. The power was off. The street was deserted.
We did several live reports for our morning newscasts, then produced a piece for the noon show on how people were coping with a day in the dark. For many, it would be several days in the dark.
We were far from the major devastation in New York and New Jersey. On this first anniversary, we are bombarded with images of damage yet to be repaired, and people rebuilding what they had along the coast. I often question the wisdom in spending massive amounts of money in areas where this could, and eventually will happen again.
