A Thousand Words

Hubby spent the day in Rockaway Queens today.

I had a chance to speak to him briefly this afternoon.

He, his coworker, and nephew J are staying over at our friend Ms' parents' house tonight.

We are in the midst of a nor'easter and the weather/roads are nasty.

He said the devastation is indescribable.

Hubby likened it to looking like a war zone.

I had him send me some pictures from the day.

Those pictures are what I will be using on the blog today.

And these pictures show truth to the phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Boats just scattered in the middle of the road.

Hubby said they saw many boats like these and other boats scattered in peoples' yards.

The other striking thing Hubby mentioned was the amount of abandoned cars they saw.

Abandoned everywhere.

In the medians, on the streets, in parking lots.

Some with broken windows.

Here are buildings that appear to have been burnt down.

Devastating.

And Hubby said that there is so much sand everywhere.

Wet sand.  Everywhere.

And no power.

These are only some of the homes that burned down the night of October 29, 2012.

Words can't express the sadness I feel seeing this picture.

Here is a link to a news story about the fires.

80-100 homes/buildings burned that night.

Heartbreaking.  Heart wrenching.

This is the gym of the school where donations went today.

St. Francis de Salle School.  Rockaway, Queens.

Hubby said much of their volunteer work today was spent clearing the gym.

Organizing the donations.

The gym was being prepped to be used as a shelter for tonight.  And in the coming days/weeks.

Hubby couldn't express enough the destruction that is in this area.

He said there's a pretty high elderly population too.

And it seems like they just don't know what to do.

He said there was a good police presence and they did see some National Guard as well.

Hubby also said that the garbage crews seem to be doing a great job.

Working around the clock to try to clear all the debris/garbage.

But he did say it seems like this area has maybe fallen through the cracks a bit.

So very sad.

We will be keeping in touch with our friend M and will continue to see what help is needed there over the weeks to come.

Here is Hubby with Ms' mom, C.

She is a sweetheart.  It's no wonder that M is such a great guy.

Thank you C for letting Hubby and the guys stay with you tonight.

C helped yesterday at the school as well.

Serving food.  I believe she told M that they served over 2000 meals yesterday.

Amazing.

Our plan since late spring has been to spend Thanksgiving with M & his big Italian family.

Really looking forward to seeing C and the rest of the family.

They are just wonderful people.

From L-R: Hubby, J(hubbys' coworker), nephew J, M, and L.

Here they all are with C.

From the text I got from Hubby earlier, she fed them good tonight.

Hubby said they were having sausage & peppers and various meats & cheeses.

I am sure they were all thankful to be in a warm house after being out in the cold today.

And I am sure it made them all think of those that have lost so much that much more.

 potd #310.  Hubby said this was his favorite picture from the day.  No words needed.