You thought the torrential rain and floods were bad; now, NJ is in a state of emergency.
In Glen Ridge, pockets of neighborhoods experience power outages. On Stephen St., off Grove, neighbors on one side of the street, who had been told power wouldn’t been restored until Tuesday, brought their perishables over to those on the other side.
A mom of four in Glen Ridge, who has newborn twins, struggled to stay above water (figuratively) as her child’s birthday party was rudely stopped in its tracks by a power outage and she found herself with a load of decisions to make.
Paula Runnions told us her story:
“We have 3 week old twins and a 4 and 3 year old. We lost power last night around 7pm singing happy birthday to my 3 year old. My in-laws were over and we waited till about 8ish and then they took my 4 and 3 year old back to their house to spend the night.
We spent the night at our house with the twins feeding and changing them all night over candlelight and flashlight. Thank god I am nursing as their milk is always warm. We roughed it all night thinking we would have power in the morning. This was not the case.”
When Paula, her husband and babies awoke Sunday morning to a freezing house, they decided to join their older kids at the grandparents’ home in Nutley.
“Over the past 8 hours we have transported many baby items here along with our toddler clothes, toiletries, diapers, cream, swing pack and play even the baby bathtub because the babies are so messy from the past 24 hours. It may have been easier had we just drove to Babies R Us and purchased a bunch of stuff we needed. Next fun project – getting back to reality and going home to the dirty birthday cake dishes on the table and throwing out food in both fridges.”
Were you affected by downed trees, flooding or power outages in your area? Were you without heat or light for any period of time? How did you cope or what contingency plans did you have to make? Tell us in comments.