How the Doroski Family Survived Hurricane Sandy

“Early Monday morning, as the storm was just beginning, I cooked two large pots of rice and boiled two dozen eggs,” said Nanette Doroski. “I finished cooking just minutes before the electricity went off.”

Hearing of the impending storm, my daughter Simone, her husband Seiya Miyazaki, and daughter Kailani left Bridgeport, CT on Sunday, October 21, 2012. Under evacuation orders, the police in Bridgeport had been knocking on doors telling everyone they had to evacuate. Simone, Seiya and Kailani took the last ferry to Long Island with a friend. My older son, Sebastian, and his wife Rachel were also visiting, and my son Landon was home, due to college being canceled. So the nine of us weathered the storm using candles for light.

As Hurricane Sandy approached, my husband John spent the day checking for small items that might fly against our windows and securing two sheds that hold tools and important items with ropes and wire. A third shed that holds our recycling materials and garbage was already secured with cement and steel cables.

Three adventurous members of the Doroski family take a stroll through flooded streets.

Our family was better prepared than many for a crisis in which food becomes unavailable. John has been receiving telepathic messages for more than five years advising him that natural disasters are coming, so we have stocked up on one month’s supply of canned goods and staples such as rice and dried beans, just in case.

In our bathtubs upstairs and downstairs, a large garbage bin was filled with water. A small bucket was placed to scoop water for washing or flushing toilets. We do not have city water but are dependent on electricity to operate our well pump; thus, when we lost electricity, we lost our water supply. Early Monday morning, as the storm was just beginning, I cooked two large pots of rice and boiled two dozen eggs. I finished cooking just minutes before the electricity went off. That afternoon, John drove through the 65/mph winds to obtain propane to be able to cook indoors. He secured the propane tank in the hole of a cinder block on top of a large ice chest with many large clamps so the propane tank couldn’t fall while it was used for cooking. It worked well. I made meals using the food I presently had. Since my refrigerator and freezer were filled but not working, there was always the chance of losing all this food. I asked John to get a newspaper and he reported that stores were getting barren and the bread shelves were completely empty.

Meanwhile, the wind was blowing violently. I looked out the window and saw trees bending to the ground and heard things banging around. Later, when John was trying to secure a window by nailing down the pieces left, I learned that the trim around our windows on the east side of our house had come off. We generally used paper plates and cups to avoid using the little precious water we had.

We had two car batteries attached to an inverter to produce electricity for one florescent light and to

charge our computers and cell phones. Our first thought was to protect our food, so we put three bags of ice in our refrigerator and freezer. The second day, John’s brother brought over a generator to power our refrigerator. Having an operating generator is really important.

“My son, Landon, a ballroom-dance instructor, had all the couples dancing – waltz, foxtrot, swing, and tango to the music produced by the generator,” said Nanette Doroski. “It was an old-fashioned family affair with no TV and mechanical devices, just time spent well together.”

We each took turns praying, and we also danced the last night. My son, Landon, a ballroom-dance instructor, had all the couples dancing – waltz, foxtrot, swing, and tango to the music produced by the generator. It was an old-fashioned family affair with no TV and mechanical devices, just time spent well together.

The power came back on late Wednesday night. And a few gas stations are still selling gas, but many are empty. We are counting our blessings and the lessons learned from this crisis.