Well it has been more than a week since the tornado swept through my neighborhood in Forest Hills, but it looks as if it only happened yesterday.  Driving through my neighborhood everyday is like trying to solve a crime without any clues or hints, its almost impossible.  I took a drive up to Connecticut on Sunday and it took me about 45 minutes to get out of Forest Hills and about 20-30 to get the rest of the way.  It is really disappointing that our city has done so little for this small neighborhood that suffered large amounts of damage.  The lack in efficiency and order after the tornado hit frightened me.  It was as if the disaster hit all five boroughs.  It was impossible to get anywhere, traffic was crazy any direction in which you turned your head, and trains were not exactly the quickest alternative.  I ended up walking home in the rain and it allowed me to observe the absolute chaos that the streets of forest hills saw that evening.  Working in forest hills allowed me a first hand view of the events that took place.

The day was cool, you could smell Fall approaching, the sun was shining and it seemed like any other late summer day.  I woke up to a nice day outside and headed out to my car to drive to an early psychology class.  After school I got home, got ready for work and reluctantly made my way to work knowing I wouldn’t be home until about 11 pm.  Around 5:30 pm the sky grew dark, I stepped outside to find that the air became unbearably humid.  I knew that a storm was approaching but the drastic change in temperature and humidity was a bit surprising.  As I was standing outside two girls walked by and one exclaimed, “Ha! Tornado warning.” to which her friend replied a sarcastic, “Alright.”  We have heard the tornado warnings here in New York before and haven’t given much attention nor have we even considered the possibility of preparing ourself for a tornado to touch down.  I stepped inside the building and waited for the rain. To my surprise the wind and the rain began with such force together almost instantly.  The doors at my workplace flew open and one of the doors instantly cracked right down the middle.  As I stood there frozen staring out into the abyss that was supposed to be queens boulevard it felt as if I were spinning in the atmosphere on my way to Oz.  All I could see outside was rain,wind and branches.  There were no cars, no people I couldn’t even see the sidewalk it felt as if I was being transported into another world.  The darkness subsided and I finally got a glimpse of the streets about five minutes after the downpour.  The sky grew bright, the sun came out, the people stepped outside to find destruction everywhere.  Trees in windows, doors in the streets, cars stopped in the middle of the boulevard, it was as if the entire neighborhood was still from the shock.

It bothers me that every time I step outside I am reminded of the fact that this city is so unprepared for even the more minute problems.  If a few neighborhoods suffered this much damage last week and are still awaiting cleanup then I really do not want to think about the chaos that may occur if something severe happens.  All I can do is continue to drive around the broken glass, the power lines that remain on the streets and the trees that have been ripped out of the ground with the cement still attached to their roots.