Monday, November 05, 2012

seriously sidetracked

Ok, I have gotten a little bit lost wandering the internet and have now used up all of my available time tonight.

Let me just tell you what I've been up to, though.

Tonight I was on the phone with my mom and she told me that she still could not reach her long time friend who lives on an island somewhere in New Jersey. Her friend lives in Mantoloking, which was hit by SuperStormSandy hard.


I took down my mom's friend's name, address, etc...and then started googling around.  Old satellite photos, post-Sandy aerial photos...and then I got into the YouTube videos.  

Gosh, the loss these people are suffering.  It's incredible.  I'd been lighting a candle already anyhow, but oh my gosh.  I'm going to need to do more.

Anyhow. YouTube videos.  After watching several and also clinking through on related facebook links, it turns out that one of the videos was shot a guy whose family lives in the house across the street from my mom's friends.  How crazy coincidental is that?!

It's looking like the house is still standing, though who knows how much damage was sustained (their house is just a couple houses north of what you see pictured above, and they are on the bay side).  The real thing though is just waiting to hear where they are and how they are.  I left a comment for the guy thanking him for the video. Maybe he'll think (as if he doesn't have other things to think about) to let them know someone was asking.

Ahhh, the internet.   Such I love/hate relationship I have with it.
Mostly love.
Amazing things happen often enough that make it magical.

1 comments:

Jen Anderson said...

Yeah, it's been hard getting in touch with people. Cell service is out in certain areas too. The day after the storm, my parents thought they were calling and texting people to let them know they were OK and just not getting answers. It turns out that their calls and texts weren't going through, but they weren't getting error messages.

And one of my uncles didn't even bother telling his kids that he was OK. One of them had to drive out to his house to check on him, his wife & young daughter.

The Red Cross has an online database for letting people know you're OK, but unless you're in a shelter, you can't access it (if you're without power). And people are afraid to leave their homes empty because of looting.

It's been a thrill and a half on the East Coast.