Hurricane Sandy's Affect on Our Family

Hi everyone, this is Raj.

 I don't post here but my mom told me to post on how we are doing on her behalf. Obviously there have been some problems since "Frankenstorm" hit our state. Hurricane Sandy's outer fans hit our state early Monday morning. The severe part of the storm came that same day from 7 pm - 11 pm (US Eastern Time). From our window, we saw bright lights in the sky. These lights were very interesting to see, as they ranged from red to blue. But we later found out that those lights were the reactions of various transformers and power cables exploding into flames. Since it was a full moon on Monday night, we still had to observe Kojagiri Purnima. My mom, dad, and I all went outside to offer threads from our clothes to the sky. It was a bit of an experience because the wind was very strong. The gusts were probably 113 kmh (70 mph) and the temperature was about 10 degrees celsius (50 degrees farenheit). Yet, the whole thing from my perspective felt pretty good because for that minute I was outside, I felt very much alive. Unfortunately, those winds left a lot of destruction as well. In our house's radius, 3 trees fell. We also lost power on Monday night and still do not have it. All we have running is gas and water (but hot water is scarce). We do not know when we will get the power back but it requires a lot of patience. Our electric company, PSE&G, predicts we will get power back next week. This is ironic because the US Presidential Election Day is the day before. If we do not have power for a week, President Obama might lose a lot of votes since New Jersey generally votes for the Democratic Party. Also, Halloween is today but there probably won't be any trick-or-treating as it will be too dark and unsafe for children to go out and collect candy... in other words, more candy for myself I guess. Thankfully, two of my friends who live nearby have offered their places in case we need to charge our phones or laptops. My uncle also lost his power but they have a generator. I'm not sure if we will get one but if PSE&G is not willing to help restore our power soon, we will need a generator so that Diwali can still be celebrated. A positive that I got out of Hurricane Sandy was that it forced my school and a majority of NJ schools to be closed this past Monday, Tuesday, and today (Wednesday). The status on tomorrow is still unclear. We are thankful we didn't get the worst part of the storm. Currently, the Jersey shore is in deep trouble. Atlantic City is 75% underwater with 2 boardwalks washed away and Long Beach Island is not even visible. I just hope the people there find a way to overcome their loss down there.

Here is a video that I recorded of the storm from my room. It was cold and wet but still pretty fun to film. This was during the early stages of the storm in the afternoon so you all can only imagine how more intense it got during the night. Click the link and make sure you all put your volume up!
http://bit.ly/RvHjiK