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I received some emails asking how things in our area of New Jersey. Many areas had flooding and electrical outages.  We were extremely fortunate, only suffering minimal broken tree branches and some minor flooding in the yard.  We did have some stressful moments during the night as we watched the water totally covering the street and creeping up our front yard to the point that we feared the main area of our house would flood.  However, each time the rain subsided in strength, the water would recede back to the street.  Back and forth all night, with neither of us being able to sleep.

Downtown Hightstown was a huge mess.  The flooding on Main Street was severe.  Our favorite place in town for food — and where I had my big surprise birthday party and mom had her surprise party last summer (actually we’ve had countless parties there over the years) —  Tavern on the Lake, was totally flooded.  Yes there is a lake nearby, but I never remember it ever so flooded, and we’ve been going there (through various names and ownerships) for some 20 years.  Sadly, it was more like Tavern in the Lake.

This is the firehouse on Main Street.  The police station was also flooded.  The water treatment plant, we were told, had some 13 feet of water in it, meaning the water needed to be boiled before use (although that has now been lifted). The most tragic was two people in the area who died as a result of the storm.

It was a strange week — an earthquake (yes, I felt it, although I thought I was having some kind of vertigo and mom was right there giving me the “you don’t eat right” speech, as she didn’t feel a thing <g>), hurricane, flooding, and we even had a hit-the-basement moment for a tornado warning (which is rare in NJ).  Crazy weather seems to be becoming the norm.

While I do not know of who may be eligible for what in other states, in NJ, all 21 of our countries are eligible for possible FEMA disaster relief. For more information, visit the FEMA site and click the “Apply Online for FEMA Assistance” link, or you call (800) 621-3362.  Also, beware of scam artists!  The NJ Division of Consumer Affairs has issued warnings, which you can read about here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Misc. Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.