A NEWRY woman who lives in New York has told of her fear as her 36-storey apartment block swayed as Superstorm Sandy hit.
Grace Smith, a business analyst who lives in Manhattan, told the News Letter last night she had no power and that the only food she had left was chocolate.
Before the storm arrived she had spoken of the eerie quiet of the city as it awaited the expected hurricane.
The UCD graduate joined Newry-based financial software and consulting business First Derivatives in 2010 and was first posted to Toronto before moving as an analyst with Credit Agricole in New York just over a year ago.
Grace’s apartment is in Manhattan, which escaped the worst of the storm damage. However, the storm itself was still a disconcerting experience, she said.
“We got the worst of it last night from about 8pm, with the power going out at 12.30am,” she said last night.
Grace spent the night of the storm playing board games with her two flatmates, describing the evening as “frightening”.
From 7pm on the night of the storm it was “very bad” until about midnight-1am when it began to ease.
“I feel like the worst of it was last night. It was very scary, with winds blowing from 60 to 80mph.
“You could feel the building moving.”
Grace lives on the 18th floor of a 36-floor apartment block.
“I wasn’t too bad with it moving, but people I spoke to on the 34th floor were a bit concerned.”
Grace went into work on Monday morning but was told by her employer to go home for her own safety as the storm approached.
But today she will be going back into work and expects the city’s power to be back online.
Although her own power is out, her mobile and landline phones are working. However, she does not have any hot water or cooking facilities.
“I am trying to find a shop which is running on an electricity generator so I can buy some food.”
In the meantime she has “a lot of chocolate” to fall back on, she said, laughing.
“The streets were deserted during the storm, although there are now more people out and about. It is still windy today, though not as bad as it was.
“In all, about half of New York is without power today. I am quite surprised it is still off.”
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