Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath

Hurricane Sandy put stress and harm on millions of people throughout the East Coast. According to NYDailyNews.com the death toll reached over 74 in the United States, and more than 5.6 million homes and businesses went out of power due to Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath. The Baltimore Sun shows that as of November 4, Western Maryland still have over 58,000 power outages, while the Baltimore area has over 186,000 power outages.  

                Joshua Majower, a senior at Frostburg State University lost power at his duplex on Spring Street in Frostburg. He was out of power from Monday, October 29^th until Sunday November 4^th. During this time Majower didn't have a hard time finding things to do, however he had a hard time keeping his food from expiring, finding places to shower, and doing his laundry. Majower states “During the day I had light coming in through my windows so it wasn't too bad, I could at least see around my house. At night I would just go out with my (Fraternity) brothers to the bar and by the time we came back to the house we just passed out. Some people ask me why I didn't go to my girlfriend’s house; my response was she didn't have power either!” When asked if he knew about all of the resources that were available on campus for people who were out of power, such as the gym staying open so that students could use their showers, he said that he didn't know about the resources because he “ didn't have power to check my email, therefore I didn't have any way to access email and figure these things out.” Majower now has power and is able to adjust back to the lifestyle that he was used to.

                As stated above, there were over 58,000 power outages in Western Maryland. Most of those power outages are in Garrett County. Karina Deniker, a commuter student at Frostburg State University from McHenry, M.d. has been out of power since Monday, October 29^th. She sadly says that she had to go out and buy $600.00 in new tires for her car. She had a different experience with power outages then Majower had. Because Deniker is a commuter student and lives in a house in the back woods of McHenry, she wasn't able to leave her house until Wednesday, October 31^st. She was stuck in her house for two days straight with no power or hot water. She states “It’s make you really start to appreciate what you have when you can’t have it. Fortunately though, no trees fell on our house. My neighbor’s roof completely fell in when a tree landed on it. We are fortunate to only have to worry about the power.” When asked about what she did for entertainment while the power was out, she stated “I drank a lot of beer and water, ate a lot of cookies and made a lot of snow men.” Deniker is still out of power and is using resources from Garrett College to stay clean, warm and dry. 

Below a picture taken from inside of Karina Denikers house in McHenry, during Hurricane Sandy.