The hurricane

The East river boulevard was closed off on Monday

 I can't even adequately describe to you what we saw from 25 floors in the air and on our sporadic walks outside, so I'll just show you what happened in our little pocket of Manhattan.

Watching the East river spill on to the FDR and eventually to First Avenue

East river flowing down First Avenue and on to 94th street on Monday night

On Tuesday morning we woke up to a changed neighborhood. Things felt raw and tossed around. We had lost power the night before and still didn't have it back. I walked down 25 flights of stairs and started to look around the neighborhood. It didn't take me long to head straight towards the river and the FDR.

Walking down the middle of the FDR on Tuesday

Other things I couldn't document photographically but need to preserve here: A taxi getting washed away down the FDR, its headlights bobbing up and down and eventually going dark as the car sank under the water. I was terrified that I was witnessing someone drowning but was assured by neighbors that someone escaped from the car before it sank.

The bones of our 32-floor building creaking as the building swayed to and fro in the wind. Our bathtub, filled with water just in case we got cut off, sloshed in time with the building's movements.

All in all, a very scary event. I am thankful that our biggest hardship was walking up and down 25 flights of stairs to walk the dog. Other apartments and homes in Manhattan and the surrounding areas were devastated and I feel lucky that we got off as easily as we did. My office is still closed as there is no power to lower Manhattan.

Looking outside tonight there is a clear sky and a bright moon shining down. It is hard to believe just two days ago there was a raging storm.