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Remzi Fetahu Professor Susan Lago English 1100 7 November 2013

Fetahu 1

Worst Nightmare August 28 ,2011 wasnt really an average summer day for most people in New Jersey. With a ton of rainfall the night before, and excruciating high winds up to 115 miles per hour, it was too soon for it to be all over. Hurricane Irene had just passed over Jersey that night. Some would call it a hurricane, others a relief, but for the ones who were affected by it like my family, it was a total nightmare. Evacuation definitely plays a huge role when dealing with severe hurricane flooding. Mandatory evacuation was for nearly one million visitors and residents the morning after Hurricane Irene. While many people evacuated, many others did not. As for my father and I, the only ones at the house at the time, we didnt. Studies shown from PMC Library of Medicine have State that those who have lived through previous hurricanes without major harm are less likely to evacuate, as are those who believe that his or her home is not in a high-risk location for hurricane damage or that the storm is not severe enough to warrant evacuation

Fetahu 2 (R, Kristen) . Over the years that we lived in Fairfield, we never had to evacuate. Fairfield may be a town were a lot of flooding occurs, and families do evacuate, but we never did. Without any hesitation, we began to remove all the furniture from the basement and bring it up to the living room. As we were moving everything we realized that the water from the street was moving quickly toward our house. There was no escaping this. My biggest fear was to lose our house and everything in it. My neighbors rushed over trying to help us move everything, but we knew there was no time. Police in rowboats came up and down the street telling us that we would have to leave immediately. My father refused to leave, as did the other neighbors around. They warned us that they would not come back after 6 p.m. because the power would most likely be out and it would be too dangerous. At this point we knew there was no way out and every hour led to a darker and colder night. My father and I were so focused on everything that could be destroyed in the house that we put on our own lives in danger. CNN Officials stated, Emergency officials report at least 56 people in nine states have died as a result of Hurricane Irene (sharp,tim) Drowning killed majority of the people. Even after the flooding eventually settled, and everything was coming to an end, it was far from it. A health issue arose for my father and I. We started to develop a small rash on the bottom of our feet, which was very odd. Overtime

Fetahu 3 the rash spread quickly and started to cover the bottom of both of our feet. We were both eventually rushed to St.Joes Hospital In Patterson and kept there for a couple of days. The doctors ran multiple tests to make sure that our skin wasnt infected with any harmful diseases. The doctor began to explain to me that if I did not seek medical help it could have lost both of my legs to infection.

The experience that I had to go through is something that I will never forget. I learned that even though some decisions are harder to overcome then others, evacuating would have been the right thing to do. A year later a similar incident involving Hurricane Sandy occurred. Without any speculation, we immediately evacuated our home. The Hurricane although did not cause close to any damage as Irene, but it was still very life threatening. This time around, flooding was not the issue. It was the brutal winds of 122 miles per hour, which swept anything in its way. We waited till the weather was slowly starting to slow down, and made our way down to the nearest hotel. We grabbed the necessities that we would need for a few days. CNN officials reported Hurricane Sandy, as a hurricane and a post-tropical cyclone, killed at least 117 people in the United States and 69 more in Canada and the Caribbean (Sharp,Tim). After a couple days we decided move back into our house. One of the trees in our backyard had

Fetahu 4 collapsed and fell down on top of our deck, which was completely destroyed. It took time for everything to get back to normal, but at least everyone was safe. Later that week we were able to drive down to the Jersey shore to see the damages that hurricane caused. The condo that we owned down by Seaside Park, were we would visit every weekend in the summer was completely destroyed. The effects of North Jersey and South Jersey were incomparable. A full moon made high tides 20 percent higher than normal and amplified Sandys Storm Surge. Streets were flooded, trees and power lines knocked down and the city's famed boardwalk was ripped apart. Along the Jersey shore, people were left stranded in there homes and waited for rescue teams in boats to rescue them . Most of the deaths that occurred in New Jersey were because familys refused to evacuate. A couple of days before the hurricane, both of my grandparents were down by the condo. After hearing the news on how life-threatening hurricane Sandy can be for residents down the shore, they immediately left. One day can change a million lives. Leaving some without food, some without a home, and even some without families. A tragedy can occur at anytime, even when its least expected. Experiencing both of these tragic events that will leave a mark forever, has taught me a lot. Day by day my family worked hard to build everything back to the way it was. Some days we struggled more

Fetahu 6 then others. Whether it was financially, emotionally or physically we built our way up.

Fetahu 7 Work Cited Masterson, Kristen R. "Social Factors as Modifiers of Hurricane Irene Evacuation Behavior." (2011): n. pag. National Library of Medicine. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. "Hurricane Sandy." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 24 Nov. 2013 Sharp, Tim. "Superstorm Sandy: About the Frankenstorm." LiveScience.edu. N.p., 12 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

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