Surviving Sandy

No words can accurately portray the amount of destruction and loss that Hurricane Sandy brought.  Over thirty people died in New York City and four in the Lehigh Valley.  The Jersey Shore, Long Island, and countless other places along the East Coast are decimated.  

My heart goes out to all those affected by the storm.  I was lucky enough to not suffer any major damage from the storm, and my family in NJ was without power for a few days, but safe.  

Having Twitter (and cell service) was a great asset during the storm, as I was not only able to keep updated with tweets from Lehigh offices like OFSA and the Dean of Students, but keep updated on the weather conditions and damage around NJ and the East coast.  

Two interactive features that I found on Twitter show before and after satellite images of Seaside Heights and a time lapse of the storm from the New York Times building in New York.  

Wall Street Journal-Seaside Heights satellite images

New York Times time lapse of storm

After Lehigh canceled classes for Monday and Tuesday at 5 p.m. on Sunday, I decided to stay at Lehigh for the storm because most of the girls in my house were and the conditions could be pretty bad while driving home.  It was fun and relaxing to catch up on work and hang out with each other without class and other commitments.  

We were one of the last Greek houses on the Hill to lose power (lost power around 9 p.m. on Monday) but with the emergency generator we were able to stay until Tuesday afternoon, when we were evacuated.  

I was lucky enough to be able to go home with one of my sisters who lives in Pittsburgh.  A lot of girls in our house live in Pittsburgh, so there's almost twenty of us who took road-tripped and took refuge here.  

Here are some pictures from the road trip from Bethlehem to Pittsburgh: 

 Crews hold up the wire that fell on the Hill so that students can evacuate from campus. 

 Hard to tell from the picture (taken while driving by) but lots of trees fell in the Sacred Grove.  

 Temporary stop sign at the intersection of Brodhead and 4th because the light was out.  

 Pumped gas for the first time during our stop at Sheetz (#jerseygirlproblems)

 A view of Newville, PA.  After missing an exit (and not realizing until 5 exits later) we had to take a detour through this farm town.  

 When we thought we had already received the brunt of Mother Nature's wrath, then there was snow.

 A picture I instagrammed of the Pennsylvania landscape.  

And we've arrived! 

The skyline of Pittsburgh, with the famous PPG building on the right. 

I'll be in Pittsburgh until Saturday or Sunday, and my next post will be about our adventures in the city.  

Hope everyone is safe and has power!