Dangerspouse Rides Again

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Garage - Track




Oct. 30, 2012 - 5:54 p.m.

Sandy blows

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Just a quick update. I'm exhausted.

But getting paid overtime!

It's Tuesday now. I've been at work since Sunday night. Basically, anyone who arrived before the storm has not been able to leave, and has had to cover for those who couldn't (and still can't) get in after Hurricane Sandy hit. I'm on a brief break before going back on the air for afternoon drive. I'll be sleeping on the floor of my studio again tonight, then go back on the air beginning at 3am tomorrow and staying there until noon. Hopefully by then relief will arrive and I can go home. I stink somethin' fierce! Although we have no power or water at home, so it'll be a Baby Wipes shower. But it's better than the pizza crusts I've been rubbing on my body the last two days here to mask the stench.

Still, it could be worse.

For instance, this could have happened to me:

Last night management told us they'd gotten us a bunch of rooms at a hotel just across the road. I decided not to to chance it though, since the weather report made it seem like even the half mile trip to and from the place could be washed out overnight when the winds and high tide would push the storm surge almost to Iowa. So I stayed and slept on my studio floor.

But 6 or 7 announcers took them up on it, along with our two bosses. They carpooled to the hotel in 3 cars.

When I got up this morning, none of the other announcers had made it back from the hotel. Nor our two bosses.

Turns out they had quite an adventure. First they managed to find an open liquor store and liberated a few bottles of vino. They drank that at the hotel, then repaired to their respective rooms.

At 1am the fire alarms started going off. The went downstairs to the lobby, which was under 3 feet of water...and on fire. The storm surge filled the basement and set off an electrical conflagration. The fire department actually put out the fire, but told them the hotel had to be evacuated because the flood also blew the sewer lines, and most of the water in the hotel lobby was actually raw sewage.

The only way out: wade. They had 10 minutes to gather their things and get out. They held all their belongings over their heads like a jungle expedition and waded through the lobby, across the parking lot, and all the way across Route 17 in the dark, in sometimes chest high cold sewer water. They were all told to shower as quickly as possible, and then get tetanus shots as soon as they were able. A local gym was able to open up and let them use their showers, but all the hospitals had evacuated non-critical patients and were not doing routine maintenance on walk-ins, so they're on their own there.

And -

The three cars they took to the motel were all lost. The flood waters went right over the roofs. It was over 7 feet deep by mid-morning, shortly after they evacuated. The three announcers who lost their cars were just devastated, and only one was able to go back on the air today. (The other two are the two girls who's studios are on either side of me.)

So I'm sleeping here again tonight. Don't get me wrong, being from New Jersey I'm very much used to wading through raw sewage on a regular basis. But I'm not risking my Stanley the Mighty WRX for anything.

Oh, and even though this is a secondary consideration, I suppose it's worth mentioning: NewWifey(tm), Casey the WonderCorgi, Gloria the Boneless Cat, and DangerHouse are all unharmed. Nothing fazes NewWifey(tm), who grew up in Tornado Alley and is used to prepping for Armageddon. So two days before the hurricane ripped into us she already had the house barded in reinforced concrete slabs, knitted padded helmets for the dog and cat, killed a cow and made 628 pounds of beef jerky (42 pounds teriyaki flavor!) and diverted a local stream to our bathroom so we could flush. There's no electricity, but the fierce glow of her womanhood provides enough light to read by. So they're ok even though - and perhaps because - I'm not there.

"Tis an ill wind that blows no one any good" the old proverb goes. I hope Sandy didn't blow any of you out of house and home.

Ciao!

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