Former Southeast Missourians witness Sandy's power

Some individuals with Southeast Missouri ties found themselves caught in the middle of a storm for the ages this week. Other locals are heading to its aftermath.

Superstorm Sandy lost its hurricane status Monday night before it smacked into the New Jersey coastline. But with an 85 mph wind and a tidal force strong enough to produce storm surges of more than 13 feet, people living in its path fled their homes and took shelter in distant locales.

Late Tuesday, more than 8 million people were without electricity across the East Coast. Flooding reached record levels in Atlantic City, N.J., and in New York City the high water rendered electrical-power systems useless and had flooded the subway system.

Kyle Van Pool, a Sikeston, Mo., native and 2011 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, has been living in Manhattan's Upper West Side for the last two months.

"I just want to say that I'm fine and dandy," Van Pool said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "Thankfully, the Upper West Side hasn't been affected like other places. So far, we haven't lost power, but the winds and rain had knocked down plenty of branches and store awnings when I went outside this morning to take a look."

Van Pool said other locations in the city haven't been so lucky.

"I know for sure that a subway station near Wall Street has been filled to the ceiling with water," he said. "That's just incredible. I'm told they've never had to deal with something like that in the history of the subway system. And in Queens, they had a six-alarm fire in an apartment complex because of water that rolled in."

Van Pool added that he had been safe in his apartment since Sunday evening, riding out the storm. However, he's confident he'll be back to work today at his theater job.

In neighboring Scotch Plains, N.J., Marissa Shoaf, formerly of Cape Girardeau and a 2002 graduate of Southeast, said the damage done by the storm has been devastating.

"There's a lot of old, stout trees in New Jersey," Shoaf said. "And many of them have blown over onto the roofs of houses in the neighborhood. You go down the street and after so many houses there's one with a tree in it. Thankfully, our house wasn't damaged."

Marissa is married to Aaron Shoaf, formerly of Jackson, and they have lived in Scotch Plains for about three years.

"We're without power, but we can deal with that for the time being," Marissa Shoaf said. "It's supposed to be back on Monday. There are power lines down all over to go with the trees that have fallen. My husband took his drive in to work and it took him two-and-a-half hours to go 10 miles."

When the call for help was sent out from the east, the American Red Cross of Southeast Missouri, based in Cape Girardeau, responded by committing four volunteers to the storm-ravaged area.

"We sent a volunteer Sunday morning to Middletown, New York," said Ann Knopf, assistant director. "She left in our emergency response vehicle, which will be used to feed people and also distribute water and emergency supplies. We also have three other volunteers ready to be deployed, and we're hoping they can catch their flights to New York just as soon as the flight schedules allow."

Ameren Corporation is assisting a beleaguered power company in New Jersey by sending 250 linemen and 150 contractors to their aid.

"We have a mutual-assistance agreement with other power companies in the country," said Dave Wakeman, vice president of energy delivery for Ameren. "We share our resources in times of dire emergency. The company in New Jersey apprised us of the storm's potential severity last week, so we already had an idea of what our men would be dealing with."

Wakeman said the contingent Ameren sent to New Jersey will be there for at least a week.

"We hope to be there for no more than two weeks, but with a storm like this contingencies can change very quickly."

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635