Teaneck Update

Thanks to so many of you who  sent  me emails with prayers and good wishes to my sister and her family and asked for an  update on their situation.

On Monday experts, with an enormous crane,  came to start removing the two trees. It was done section by section, all the time securing the remaining trunk to stop it moving and destroying the rest of the house.

It took seven hours of Monday  and several more hours on Tuesday before it was all removed.

 

My niece’s bedroom after the tree was removed

Once it was done they could  enter the house safely and remove some of their belongings. The children are staying with friends and my sister and her husband are meanwhile in a nearby hotel.

Many friends have  offered  to have them stay with them and local hotels have offered free showers to people who are still without power. One of the kosher delis has offered free dinners to them also.

Their immediate neighborhood was the worst hit, it seems, as they are still without any electricity although most other areas have had power restored.

The local  paper sent reporters to the area and they were interviewed .

An insurance assessor  has only  just been assigned to their case as there weren’t enough  for all claims. Hopefully work  on mending and rebuilding will start soon but it will still probably  be several weeks until the house can be lived in once again.

Don’t Take Anything for granted

Last night I was thinking and worrying about cleaning, shopping, ordering food and cooking for Pesach.

Now those “worrying” aspects of life seem more of a privilege than a problem.

This morning I woke up to an email from my brother in law in Teaneck New Jersey..

His name in the ‘sender’ box was already unusual.

Then I read the email, sent from his Blackberry, which went something like this:

“Tremendous storms over here. We've lost power and don't have access to email.Two large trees fell onto the house, and one of them broke through the front facade and roof. Water is pouring in. No one is hurt.

We have gone to friends down the road . They also have no electricity..If you need to reach us, send email to me (until my battery dies).”

I had to read it several times before it sunk in. I still didn’t / couldn’t believe it.

I quickly surfed over to the American news programs and read, watched and listened to the horrific stories.

Two men from my sister’s shul had been killed returning from Shabbat Mincha (afternoon) prayers when a tree fell on them.

Hundreds of thousands are without any electricity and it’s very cold .

An update later from my sister’s cellphone ( everyone has cordless phones which need electricity so we couldn’t get through to any telephone – another reason to dislike cordless phones) said that electricity probably wouldn’t be restored until Tuesday. They had returned to the house to see if it looked safe enough to go in and take some essential items for a few days /weeks ? Who knows.

tarp covers the house to save it from  more damage.

The important thing now was that the tree shouldn’t move any more and destroy more of the house. It had crashed through the roof, through my niece’s bedroom and down to the living room.

They were hoping to go further away later on to someone with electricity so they could recharge all their ‘communications’ equipment.

They weren’t sure where they would be sleeping – they had plenty of offers. They are still traumatized and are taking each hour as it comes

I felt so helpless and so useless. Apart from inviting them to come over here I couldn’t really do much else. But it’s not very practical. There’s work, school, college, and keeping an eye on their home.

I thank G’d that none of my sister’s family was hurt

I also thank G’d that I have a home to clean for Pesach, a kitchen to cook in and our own beds to sleep in.

We take so much for granted.