Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy was a tragedy that many people did not expect to be so bad. Even I did not think it would be so severe. I work at Ace Hardware and people were going crazy buying everything like batteries, flashlights, and generators, etc. My family did not need to buy anything because we always have emergency things, but still we were not prepared for what was to come. Hurricane Sandy destroyed homes, killed lives, and paused daily routine. I lost power for 13 days. It was so cold I stayed at my friends  house for most nights. I showered at my relatives houses that were already packed with people. I did not drive far because of the crazy gas lines. I was lucky that my job at ace is only 2 minutes away. School was closed all week and the internet did not work so I could not do any school work. We finally got a generator after 8 or 9 days of no power because my parents could not take the cold anymore. It was so much better but still inconvenient. However, no matter what I went through I cannot really complain because other people went through much worse. My manager who lives in Lindenhurst and has 5 kids lost everything except for her truck and family. Other people lost their lives, family, and their houses were completely destroyed. Even though  people were going crazy over losing electric and the long gas lines, most people came together to help others out. Ace took donations and after a week we could not take anymore because we had no room to store it and not enough trucks to transfer it all. FEMA stopped taking clothes because they got so much. Even though some people were fighting at the gas station and throwing things at LIPA workers, it is still nice to see people come together in the time of need.

Vocabulary 

Hurricane - an extremely large, powerful, and destructive storm with very strong winds.
Tragedy- a very bad event that causes great sadness and often involves someone's death.
Severe- very bad, serious, or unpleasant.
Emergency- an unexpected and usually dangerous situation that calls for immediate action.
Routine- a regular way of doing things in a particular order.
Inconvenient- causing trouble or problems.
FEMA- Federal Emergency Management Agency 
LIPA- Long Island Power Authority

Vocabulary Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the correct words from above. (FEMA and LIPA not included)

1. There was traffic when I was driving to work this morning. It was very ___________________, causing me to be late and waste more gas.
2. The __________________ was so windy that it knocked the tree down.
3. Romeo and Juliet was a _______________ because both of the main characters die in the end.
4. Everyday I got to work and then go to class at night. Then when I get home I do school work. Going to the gym is no longer part of my _________________ because I do not have time.
5. You should only call 911 when there is an ___________________.
6. All day I was coughing, sneezing, throwing up, and had a high fever. It was so ______________ I had to go to the doctor for some medicine.


Grammar Point

Circle all the helping verbs in the paragraph. Then create a sentence using a helping verb.