It was early in the evening when the hurricane hit. The storm was horrendous. The trees bent almost to the ground, the wind howled, and a solid sheet of rain battered the house. We thought the windows might break and didn’t know if the roof would hold. Our family huddled in the basement, just in case. The power went out, so we lit Shabbos candles. The kids were too upset and scared to play board games. My wife and I cuddled the younger ones.

The storm ended about two o’clock that night. We all went upstairs to see what was broken. Baruch Hashem, the roof and the windows were intact. We slept on our own beds that night. The power did not come back on for two weeks, however, and there was no gas in the stove. Still, we were lucky, compared to other families. Trees had fallen on roofs, and windows were blown out. A major bridge nearby was washed away.