Heart Of Darkness: What Did You Learn From Hurricane Sandy?

Most of New Milford lost power after Hurricane Sandy, closing schools for a week, bringing most businesses to a halt, causing great concern for the borough's seniors, many who live alone, and generally disrupting life around town. Some residents were without service for more than 10 days, and others saw power go out again when a snowstorm hit. 

With Shop Rite and most of the convenience stores closed for over a week, food became a real concern--especially for seniors and those with disabilities who do not drive.

PSE&G says Sandy was an unprecededented disaster, among the worst in the history of New Jersey. More than 1.7 million were without power at its peak, and it takes time to work through even with the tens of thousands of crews brought in from other states, the utility told customers.

"Since the start of the storm, PSE&G call centers have handled more than 1.9 million calls (more than 12 times the normal volume)," the utility said in a written statement.

"This is not your average storm. Hurricane Sandy has caused twice the damage as Hurricane Irene. This means that even assessing the damage is slow, with new information constantly filling in the picture of the conditions that need to be addressed. We’ve also continued to bring additional out-of-state crews to help, and move them around to the areas they are needed most.

And, yet, through the darkness, New Milford residents showed their resilience by keeping each other informed, checking on each other and reaching out to help those less fortunate in Moonachie and Little Ferry by holding clothing drives.

Share with us your post-Sandy experience:

• How did you get information? 
• How would you rate PSEG?
• Did you have a generator and how well did it work?
• Is there a good Samaritan story we should all know about?
• Did you take advantage of the Library and Berkely School as warming stations?
• What would you have done differently?

Tell us in the comments, we'd like to know.