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Superstorm Sandy Beaches Boats Along New Jersey¹ Shore

It was forecast as one of the largest storms in American history. And yet, some New Jersey citizens stood their ground. 

“Mandatory evacuation... by the time it came in, unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of options,” said resident² Teja Anderson.

That's because Anderson and her husband had waited too long.

“Everybody was begging us to get out like our families," she said. "My husband's family in Ohio was screaming at us and hanging up on us like, 'GET OUT GET OUT.'”

But then she heard the hurricane³ was speeding up, which meant less time for the storm to do damage

“The only crash we heard the whole night was the first table falling over. After that the water sort of gently mixed it all around and made a big hodgepodge of stuff⁴. We knew the house wouldn't fall apart at that point. We'd made it through the worst,” said Anderson.

Thousand of others didn't, though. They lost their cars, their furniture and even their homes.

“It's just stuff. It's so stupid," said Anderson. "But everybody lost just so much more. Photos and memories and stuff that you can never get back. Ours was really just furniture. It's just stuff. It really doesn't mean anything.”

She said what does matter is how people pulled together.

“This is a community. This is a town that cares about other people and everyone pulls through,” said Anderson.

Neighbors helping⁵ neighbors. Anderson said that's commonplace⁶ here.

“Soon as somebody got hot water, and they put it on Facebook, 'I have hot water! Come take a shower!'” she said.

Still, Anderson can't help but look back at how lucky they were.

“We were worse than stupid. We were idiots⁷. We took our children's lives into our hands. I'll never do that again...” she said.

She knows that next time they might not be so lucky.