Call it the New Normal.
With the tide rising faster than a freight train toward their home on Dikeman Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Mark and Liz Ehrhardt staged a harrowing escape, along with kids Charlotte, 15, Jasper, 11, dog Cricket and cat Darth.
It was flee or die. They chose to leave.
As they drove into Hurricane Sandy Monday night, suddenly their ’82 station wagon took on water and stalled. Jumping into an SUV Mark uses for work, the family and pets rode onto a sidewalk, surrounded by a growing wall of water. They made it to a friend’s house in Park Slope.
Thank God. They’re safe.
Now, the struggle for survival has truly begun.
The family has been forced to rely on the kindness of friends, squeezing into the house of Declan and Maria Walsh, their kids Betty, 17, and Seamus, 15, and a snobby Weimaraner named Casper. Along with another roommate, a 15-year-old boy evacuated from Manhattan, the human population of the crowded Walsh residence has climbed to nine. There are even more bodies
This is busy season for Mark’s decimated moving business, Movers Not Shakers. It now operates via cellphone and one surviving computer out of an upstairs bedroom, cramming five people, including an intern, into a space designed to sleep two.
So far, no fireworks. No bloodshed. Though things get dicey at shower time.
“I walked in on Betty, whose room we’re staying in,’’ said Mark. “Charlotte walked in on me.’’ Not a cool sight for a teenager.
The families eat leftovers salvaged from the Ehrhardts’ fridge and sack out on couches and mattresses on the floor. “We’re blowing off steam,’’ he said. “No doubt we’re drinking a little wine.’’
But nerves will fray. Jasper, the youngest, is getting irritable and bored. For now, the animals have posed the biggest threat to the peace.
Casper, a hunting dog, does not get along with cat Darth, who has disappeared.
“He could make a cat’s life miserable,’’ said Mark. “This could be a problem.’’
Like thousands of resilient residents from Brooklyn and Long Island to New Jersey and lower Manhattan, living without power or hope for light, uprooted from their homes, their jobs, their way of life, this family has found a way to cope, imperfect as it is. The biggest question that looms over Mark like a ticking clock is — when will they be able to go home?
“Who knows how long we’re going to be here,’’ he said. “We may be here as long as the generosity of Maria and Declan holds out. Red Hook has to be up and running.’’
But will the hospitality last that long?
On Tuesday, Mark mustered the courage to visit the low-lying neighborhood in which he has invested his life and his business. The sight was alarming.
“I cried,’’ he said.
Red Hook looked as if the apocalypse struck. Useless traffic lights dangled from poles without the ability to turn red or green. Power lines hung treacherously over the sidewalk.
At the end of Van Brunt Street, next to the shuttered Fairway, a river sat in the place of a road. People put their possessions outside their houses in huge, wet piles, drying out mattresses and kitchen appliances. Or maybe it was a vain attempt to save any vestige of civilization.
Mark’s business was completely flooded. Then, a miracle!
A desk floated toward the ceiling of his office, holding his main computer. It never fell off. The computer survived.
But his house was flooded. His home ruined. Mark estimates his business is down 70 percent.
And still, he’s one of the fortunate. His family is intact.
They’re alive.
“We’re really lucky. There are millions suffering.’’
God bless each and every one who suffered through unimaginable carnage. The hurricane struck.
And we’re still standing.
Not warm to gov’s reasoning
Gov. Cuomo has found the cause for Hurricane Sandy, the catastrophic storm that killed dozens: We are to blame.
“I think part of learning from this is the recognition that climate change is reality,” he said yesterday, pointing an accusatory finger at manmade pollution. “Extreme weather is a reality. It is a reality that we are vulnerable. And if we’re going to do our job as elected officials, we’re going to need to think about how to redesign, or as we go forward, make the modifications necessary so we don’t incur this type of damage.”
It makes politicians feel good to find a weather culprit, but scientists are less likely to blame global warming for any one storm. And Cuomo never said what humans can do to halt the wrath of nature.
I think freak storms come in cycles. Mother Nature cannot be cured.
Marathon madness
The devastation of Hurricane Sandy won’t stop the annual ING New York City Marathon on Sunday.
“The marathon will go on,” Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
Aside from concerns of taste, it’s insane to divert precious resources, and further exhaust cops and firefighters who’ve worked tirelessly since Sandy struck.
It seems dollars and cents brought here by the Marathon are more important. The show will go on.
‘Loot’ them rot in prison
While Hurricane Sandy brought out the selflessness in most New Yorkers, a few sleazy idiots took advantage of chaos by looting stores and homes. Some posed as utility workers.
It happened in the Rockaways and Coney Island. It happened at the South Street Seaport. Robbers went up to abandoned houses, stores or even gas stations, and grabbed all the clothes, gadgets and merchandise they could carry.
“We will not tolerate these scumbags looting. We will arrest them on sight,” said a police source.
I agree. Stop giving us a bad name! The vast majority of New Yorkers are better than that.
Full-of-twit celebs
Leave it to Kim Kardashian to stay classy. Lame celebrities made merry about the killer storm, sending narcissistic tweets as she raged toward the region. First prize for tastelessness goes to Lindsay Lohan.
“WHY is everyone in SUCH a panic about hurricane (i’m calling it Sally)..?’’ La Linz wrote. “Stop projecting negativity! Think positive and pray for peace.”
Bette Midler was typically self absorbed. “I’m baking macaroons for the duration. Hope it’s over before Hulaween!!!! Eeeeeeekkk!’’
Mindy Kaling: “9 months from now hopefully we will have some cool Hurricane Sandy babies!’’ Lena Dunham wrote, “my dad re: the hurricane: ‘I have tons of cash and a salad.’’ And Ricky Gervais, “This ‘Sandy’ who’s on TV all the time and is blowing the entire east coast, I assume she’s a Kardashian right?’’
The real Kim Kardashian was the rare celeb who showed sensitivity. “Missed the storm. I’m praying for everyone on the East Coast. I hope everyone is safe!”
It’s a start.