<p>nj2011–those pics from Seaside are horrendous; glad you fared better. Up in North Jersey we never even lost power. Trees down around us but we’re good. </p>
<p>Down in N Cape May, report is very minor house damage (gutter and attic louver blown off), no electricity but hopefully will be back by the time we can get down this weekend. Miraculously the bsement is dry. Which is good since the pump can’t work.</p>
<p>The pictures of LBI, Seaside & Manasquan are heart breaking. My long bike ride is RT to Manasquan. I haven’t seen any pics yet from Spring Lake, Belmar or Bradley, which are just south of us. Not being a barrier island is a big plus, and we have very solid dunes on our beach. I just found a pic online that indicates they weren’t breached in at our beachfront. </p>
<p>Happy to hear your part of Cape May was OK. How did downtown fare?</p>
<p>Death toll up to 38…</p>
<p>here’s a 10 minute raw video of LBI if anyone is interested. I’m not sure what parts of the island it covers:</p>
<p>[Hurricane</a> Sandy aftermath: Raw video from Long Beach Island, NJ](<a href=“‘We Are Going to Overcome the Hate:’ White Supremacist Posters Target Vt. Synagogue, LGBT Center – NECN”>‘We Are Going to Overcome the Hate:’ White Supremacist Posters Target Vt. Synagogue, LGBT Center – NECN)</p>
<p>S1 didn’t lose power in Boston. S2 didn’t lose power in DC, but he’s been working from home since his office is closed and there’s been no Metro service until this afternoon. </p>
<p>After all our preparations, we didn’t lose power in central CT. It seems that the towns in the CT River valley fared better than those in other parts of the state. Since we lost power for 7 days last October, we figured we’d lose power again. I guess I’ve got survivor’s guilt for getting off easy this time.</p>
<p>Having grown up in NYC, the pictures and video of what the city looks like and how much life is disrupted are unbelievable. </p>
<p>I hope all of you dealing with outages and damages can get back to some semblance of normalcy soon. Stay safe.</p>
<p>THat footage of LBI is from the Southern end mostly. Very devastating, cannot get onto the Island for 10 days at least. I have seen lots of photos of Surf City and North Beach, sand everywhere, water was everywhere. OCNJ was also hard hit.</p>
<p>A quiet overcast day here. The rain stopped around lunch, and we escaped the house for a local diner that was mobbed. The harried but patient waitress let slip that at least on staffer who had called in available had not shown up. Nice to escape the house for a while.</p>
<p>Dug through my stack of “to be filed” papers and found the homeowner’s policy. Power is on and Internet is working so I was able to open a claim for our leaky window and loose siding. At the bottom of the check list I was so very, very glad to be able to select “Yes” for the question “Is your home livable?”. Too many others will not be able to say that.</p>
<p>Family evacuated Long Beach (NY) but only to Island Park - just inland and still flooded and also under evacuation. At Island Park, car floated away, downstairs status unknown, apparently second floor, where they were, was OK. Am getting second hand reports from sis in law as there is no power/pone/cell service there.</p>
<p>It looks like a at least a week until they can go see what’s left of their house, which is/was on the bay on the west end of Long Beach. When they evacuated it was already bad. I think the best they can hope for is extensive work and not a tear down. It’s very possible the second - top - floor was also under water.</p>
<p>Long Beach is still evacuating people out because they have no water or sewer or power, so even those who made it through the storm have to go now.</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>That footage of LBI is shocking. It’s hard to imagine all the work and money involved to cleanup and rebuild.</p>
<p>Just got message that Rutgers is closed until Saturday. Water in New Brunswick is under boil water alert and most dorms on College Ave and Cook/Douglas without power.</p>
<p>How are kids at NYU doing?</p>
<p>just returned from Ocean City…can’t believe they actually let us in ( they probably shouldn’t have ) We only went for the purpose of helping our friends with a pump and chainsaw to cut down the tree that was leaning on their house. The hosue a few doors down from them had a fire. Our store is very damaged , but I will leave it to the insurance adjuster to see how much. What worries me most is that we will have two people without a job…still in shock about all of this</p>
<p>So sorry, lje. Good luck to you and others affected by this terrible storm.</p>
<p>lje62- I am sorry. Many years ago when we had a store in NJ and there was a major hurricane, we lost everything (300+K of inventory). It was devastating.</p>
<p>I pestered our insurance agent to file asap. Even though we didn’t have flood insurance, they approved our claim due to a very small loop hole (if the water sprinkler should go off, they would pay). The insurance company clamped down on it when they realized how much they had to pay. They honored our claim because we had it in writing. Read your insurance policy very carefully and file early.</p>
<p>I don’t know if FEMA has changed, but they were absolutely worthless when we asked for help. They wanted to see our tax and financial statements in order to give us a low interest loan. Hard to have income when you just lost everything, especially if all of your paperwork was at the store. We didn’t need a loan, we needed a grant.</p>
<p>lje62–do you have business interruption coverage on your business insurance plan? If so, part of that coverage should pay the salary of your employees for however long you have coverage. Something to ask about.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the exact locations of the houses that burned in Breezy Point? My good friend has a family home there, but is dealing with 7-10 days without power in Central Jersey so they’re having trouble getting intel. And I keep reading the same recycled story on every site that isn’t giving street names.
Thanks.</p>
<p>“homes on fire in a triangular area of Breezy Point called ‘the wedge.’”</p>
<p>“A large fire in Breezy Point Queens during hurricane Sandy destroyed dozens of homes around Beach 207th Street and Ocean Ave.”</p>
<p>[Dozens</a> of Homes Destroyed in Breezy Point - Metropolis - WSJ](<a href=“Dozens of Homes Destroyed in Breezy Point - WSJ”>Dozens of Homes Destroyed in Breezy Point - WSJ)</p>
<p>I haven’t had a chance to look at our policy since it is in our office and with all of the storm prep, didn’t have a moment to go there…the papers are not at the location damaged at least. We do not own the building we operate out of so we will need to get in touch with the landlord as well…we had some damage during Irene too , but we sucked it up and never even contacted anyone…just went about our business and fixed things on our own…this time doesn’t even compare and we can’t use this as an option. Like I said…I am more concerned for the two employees being out of work and the loss of income will make it hard for us to take care of them. They are like family to us , so I know my husband will do whatever he can for them</p>
<p>And thanks for the kind words and thoughts while I do my nervous rambling :)</p>
<p>lje62–have you been in touch with your agent or the insurance company? Call their 800 number and ask if you have coverage for your employees salary. It would be nice to know so you can tell them if they are still going to get paid through this mess. Generally in our area you can opt for 12 months or 24 months of this coverage and it is really for cases like this.</p>
<p>Well, D is going to a movie tonight! She lives in a newer building several (walkable) blocks from Penn Station and Macys. Im not sure what the neighborhood is called (maybe Hells Area or Fashion Area). Her building never lost power, cable, or Internet.</p>
<p>When she texted to say she was joining friends and going to a movie all I could think about was this documentary I saw as a kid about the resiliency and determination of cockroaches. LOL</p>