Hurricane Sandy affected millions of people less than two weeks ago along the Eastern Seaboard. Heavy rain, flooding and wind threatened lives and buildings as the storm moved westward. Several Community High Students share stories of friends and relatives, who battled the weather and blackouts on Monday and Tuesday.

CHS student Isabel Todoroff has an aunt, Carey Weihnmiller who lives in Allen Park, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.  She was on a business trip in the Bahamas when Hurricane Sandy hit, and was forced to stay inside her hotel. After the storm had moved farther up the coast Weihnmiller was allowed to leave the hotel, though she was in her room for several hours.

CHS teacher, Craig Levin, has in-laws, Liz and Bill Rappaport living on the northern side of Long Island. The Rappaport’s experienced severe flooding in their basement, loss of electricity, and their boat– midway through $200 worth of restoration– was destroyed. Luckily, the couple is safe and they are now focused on cleaning up and rebuild from the damage that was caused.

Robin Speth, a CHS student, has an uncle, Perry Speth, in New Jersey. Speth’s house was flooded, but for the majority of the storm remained in the eye of Hurricane Sandy avoiding anymore serious damage.

Annie Upton, CHS sophomore Eliza Upton’s older sister, attends Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Her school was shut down for all of Monday and the majority of Tuesday the week of the hurricane. Annie Upton was able to leave campus on Sunday night and returned once the storm passed.

Hurricane Sandy caused over 7.5 million power outages in two days of landing in New York. The storm killed 60 people, and cost the areas that Sandy affected an estimate of $50 billion. Through all the power outages, flooding, and high winds, people from New York, New Jersey and other places along the coast will continue to revive and recuperate in the aftermath of a terrible natural disaster.