Tornado in Jersey? No Way.

WAY. (Click this link so check out what happened.)

A tornado hit my town on Tuesday night. It was pretty intense. There were trees and garbage cans flying in the air! Before I knew the severity of the storm, I was making jokes that my house is going to the Land of Oz. Well, that night, it looks more like a disaster zone than Oz. Powerlines fell and there was no electricity anywhere. Trees collapsed on houses and cars. Streets were closed and there were small fire everywhere. There was flooding and electrical wires everywhere. The town told residents to either stay in their homes or evacuate immediately. No one was allowed to drive around. That night was full of sirens from the patrol cars making sure everyone was alright. My mom decided to take my brother, my sister and I to a hotel in Secaucus to be safe.

The next day, we came back home and started helping with cleaning our block. We moved giant branches out of the street and made sure everyone was alright. The town told my block that we wouldn't have power until Friday.

This new freaked me out because reviews are this week! I had no way of getting to school because a powerline fell in the middle of the road where I take my bus. Also, NJ Transit trains were down. I was crossing my fingers that my professor's would understand that I was in a disaster zone.

Yesterday, I took my laptop to the nearest McDonalds I can find that had power. (They have free WiFi and good Sweet Tea for a buck. Its a win-win.) I sat down and sent an email to all my professors about what happened. Luckily, they all responded quickly with emails containing the reviews I missed and "good luck" messages. Also, a couple of classmate knew what town I lived in and heard about the tornado. They were nice enough to send soem additional notes from lecture. I'm so thankful for Berkeley email. Now, I can review! I saved the computer and headed home, relieved that I won't be missing anything for the finals.

It's now Friday afternoon and, although some parts of my town still have trees all over the streets, my power came back. I just wanted to share my little story and show everyone how helpful everyone at Berkeley is. It's such a tight-knit campus in Garret Mountain. If something happens, you know your friends and professors have your back.

I'm so ready for finals now.