Brooklyn-based author Deanna Zandt spent six hours during Hurricane Sandy holding down the roof of her house. Literally.
As high winds buffeted the East Coast, the fire escape hatch blew open on her home in Brooklyn. Worried that the air pressure could wreck her house, Zandt and her landlords struggled to secure the hatch for hours. Here’s an excerpt from her harrowing story:
I went to the back of the house, slowly, and noticed light and a breeze coming through the cracks of the doors of my back closet. Opened the doors to find that the lid to the fire escape roof hatch had blown off. Here’s the problem with this whole lid-blowing-off thing: it’s not just the rain. An open window/door/whatever during a hurricane creates a pressurized situation that allows very little wind force to lift a roof right off of the house. Only thing we could do was take turns holding on. Holding on to our roof.