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remained alert and watched outside the window. I could see
Manhattan so dark. I also remembered it was full moon. I was
nervous to go to sleep, but in the morning, the water had finally
receded. You can still see the extent of the flood as there were
watermarks on the buildings and outlines of cars in oil left on the
street.
Q7: How long was the actual storm or hurricane Sandy?
A7: To be honest, I unconsciously forgot because it was traumatic. It felt
like the duration of the eye of the storm that passed New York was
five hours, but not so sure about it. But since the morning, it had been
very stormy, windy, and rainy. You really can feel that the eye of the
storm will be hitting later.
Q8: Were there previous warnings as regards the magnitude of
hurricane Sandy?
A8: I was not updated of any warnings because I had no smart phone and
television at that time. I missed the warnings because I was busy
doing back-to-back shifts as a server. I only heard the news from the
customers and co-workers who were talking about the warnings of
hurricane Sandy and the reports that subways were shutting down,
thus, everyone was preparing.
Q9: What happened to you the day after hurricane Sandy?
A9: I was not able to work. The restaurant I worked in was flooded and
the power was out everywhere in the neighborhood. The basement
where we store food was flooded. We were just lucky that the flood
did not go in the actual sitting area of the restaurant. Our restaurant
was not operating for three (3) days, but others were closed for six (6)
months because their damages were severe.
The day after hurricane Sandy, we opened the restaurant by
candlelight just to offer drinks and a space for neighbors to gather. I
did not consider it as working because we just offered services in
order for the people to share stories of what happened.
Q10: How did your experience with hurricane Sandy affect you, if any?
A10: It was traumatizing. It was really traumatic when I saw people
throwing out all of their possessions and how severe the damages were
to homes and businesses. But I had to stay in the neighborhood to
work. My co-workers could not report for work so I had to fill in for
them. It also felt like it was a way to be helpful to my community, by
providing a safe space at the restaurant, listening to their stories during
the recovery.
In my part of Red Hook, we didn’t have power for two (2) weeks or
so. The street lights were out and it was hard to walk around.
Everyone had a flashlight at all times so you could see when walking
around. It was also difficult for me to communicate with my loved
ones because there was no power and no internet connection. I used