Hurricane Sandy

Sandy

            The hurricane Sandy brought such devastation and tragedy to New York as well as New Jersey and many other areas.  I luckily didn’t have any damage to my home and no one in my family got hurt however, we did lose power for well over a week.  I am so grateful that was my only issue.  There are so many people who lost everything!  My heart really goes out to the families who lost family members, friends, and their homes.  We know a lot of friends who lost their entire homes.  A family friend who lived in Breezy Point lost everything due to the fire.  We had him stay with us for a while and tried to help him get back on his feet, but how do you help someone start over?  It was and still is truly heart breaking.  I never thought I would see the day that I would have to wait on a gas line for hours just to fill up containers to put in my generator.  It was truly unreal and scary.  The attitudes people had and the fighting that occurred on the lines to get gas was unbelievable!  My mom told us stories from years ago about the gas rationing and how if your license plate ended in an odd number you were to only fill up your car on an odd day and if your license plate ended in an even number you were to only fill up your car on an even day.  She explained how scary it was back then and how she never thought she would see that day again and here we are doing it all over.  I think it is helping however, I think more needs to be done.  I think it is disgusting that people are trying to make money on gas by raising the price of it during a crisis like this.  I also personally don’t think the President election should have been held considering people are going through this tragedy and to be honest that was the last thing on their minds.  I also feel that once people got their power back and days have gone by that everyone is soon forgetting that there are a lot of people who are still in need and  have nothing.  We must not forget about them and do everything we can to help out until things are completely fixed.  We all must stay together at a time like this and help out where we can!

Vocabulary:

Devastation- To be in shock or upset somebody greatly

Tragedy-An event that brings feelings of sorrow or grief

Grateful-Feeling or expressing thanks

Unbelievable-Too unrealistic to be believed

Rationing-A fixed amount, limited

Disgusting-To repel, sicken people

Vocabulary Cloze Exercise: Put the correct vocabulary words in the blank.

1. September 11, 2001 brought _________to many of people.   

2. People who abuse innocent animals who can’t fight back to defend themselves are truly ___.  

3. Thanksgiving is a time people express how ________ they are for what they have. 

4. When a tragedy hits a community like hurricane Sandy a ________of gasoline is required.   

5. The Broadway show had ___________effects.  

6. The hurricane Sandy brought ________ to many of people. 

Grammar Point: The verbs in story about Sandy are in the past tense.  Find them in the passage.

Write them and then write the present tense form of each one.

Grammar Exercise:  Write a paragraph about a scary time in your life. Remember to use past tense.