Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Jody and I have been in New Jersey now for just over 1 1/2 years and we've seen a couple of major storms come through the Northeast. Hurricane Sandy, though, was by far the most devastating storm that this area has seen in a long time. Thankfully we only lost power at our house for just a couple of days. Even though we live in a home that has been built in the last 10 years the house started getting cold on that second night. We had to all bundle up and Gemma slept with us that evening so we could be certain she was warm enough. Once the power came back on the next hurdle was getting gas, which took us a couple of days once the ration went into effect. However, despite all of this we could not even imagine how devastated those families who lived on the coast were. Our Church is well known to organize people and supplies for those in need when incidents, such as Hurricane Sandy, come through. This weekend our Ward (or congregation) was asked to spend Saturday and Sunday helping those affected by the storm in Staten Island. I was only able to make it to the service project on Sunday and took several pictures. I never could have imagined how bad the damage was to these homes before I saw it with my own eyes. Black mold was everywhere in many homes and most of what we were doing was gutting the insides down to the studs. Most often even the studs were still water-logged.

Thankfully there are those who have been willing to sacrifice their time to help those affected by this storm, and I'm not just talking about members of my Church. We met several others who were camping out, cooking breakfast, hot dogs and burgers, and handing out supplies like toilet paper, toothpaste and water to those in need. It was a pleasure being able to serve these families. They were so grateful for the help we were able to provide them and it brought such joy to my heart to see that some of their burdens were being lifted in these difficult times.

Below are several of the pictures I took of some of the damage we saw in this part of Staten Island.

The homes closest to the ocean acted as breakers for the waves that rolled in. Some faired better than others.

This home crumbled like a house of cards. It looked as if the owners simply walked away, as all of their belongings were still inside.

This is a shot looking down the street in front of a few of the homes we worked on. Families were basically cleaning out their belongings and throwing most of it away.

This is the inside of the first home we worked on. As you can see we tore it down to the studs. This home was a 100-year-old bungalow. After the storm it honestly needed to be bulldozed and re-built. Even after gutting this house I'm not certain it could be safely restored.

As we were gutting the home and removing the old insulation we found a few old newspapers. This one is from October 19, 1915. The headline, which you can't entirely see here, reads "Italy Declares War On Bulgaria".

After completing our work at the first house (above) a lady stopped us in the street and asked if we could help her clear out her house. This is a picture of her bathroom on the first floor.

A shot of the kitchen.

A boat washed off its trailer a few blocks away and landed here - right in front of where volunteers set up their tent city. This is where volunteers were cooking meals and handing out supplies.

Another unfortunate loss. This house washed away when the wave surge came in.

This house was right behind the one above. It had mostly washed off its foundation.

After working on several homes in this part of Staten Island we joined up with another group that was working on three houses right on the shore. Theses houses each had beautiful decks overlooking beachfront property.

A lot of random objects floated up into this yard. For example, the boulder on the left side of this picture wasn't there before but floated up from somewhere and rested here.

This experience was incredibly humbling and showed me just how destructive mother nature can be. I thought that we (my family) were prepared before this storm but this experience showed me that there are areas that we need to improve on in our emergency preparedness plan. It also showed me that in time of need we need to rely on each other - our family, our friends, and our neighbors.