Sandy from the Jersey Shore island perspective

I've already mentioned that I am writing about Hurricane Sandy from my perspective. Swell, I suppose, but more important than that is trying to tell the story of other people who lived through the storm. My Sandy story, after all, is pretty tame compared to what many went through.

And it really is. Yes, the Hurricane Sandy videos I posted seem kinda neat if you didn't live through it, but that's all they were. Kinda neat. Prior to the videos the water was two feet HIGHER. It sounds kind of nuts, and yes, the night of the storm was WILD, but we still survived. We lived. We moved on.

But what do you do when you CAN'T simply move on? What do you do when your home is demolished and you have no place to live and all you can hope to do is to scratch out an existence with friends and family?

I know many people who have to do exactly that. For the Philadelphia Weekly I have been trying to tell their story. I think the idea of living on the island at the time Hurricane Sandy came in, as well as the days following the storm, is compelling. That's why I'm exploring how two different families coped with the disaster.

The first story of those families starts here. They're from Lavallette, and they have a great tale to tell. Kayaking through turmoil, coming together, guns, chaos, survival. If I was writing fiction I couldn't come up with this! You should give it a read.

Also, here is a cat:

Cats are neat.

Hurricanes are not.

Cheers!