“You could hear the house groan” when Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast on Sunday, Mark Chagaris told the Register Tuesday evening. MARK, A graduate of the Air Force Academy and now a reserve pilot, was to have started training flights today, but that was postponed until Thursday. Air Force planes in the area were flown from the coast ahead of the storm.
He and wife Jennifer, daughter of Iolans Jay and Sharon Thyer, live about 10 miles south of Dover, Del., and six miles from the Atlantic.
They were fortunate, Mark said, that rain and wind didn’t damage their home or others nearby, and that they were far enough inland to avoid surging tides.
Chagaris, an Air Force Reserve pilot, flies for Southwest Airlines and was in Las Vegas Friday. A schedule change allowed him to make it home to be with his family when the storm landed on Sunday.
The Chagarises spent Saturday shopping for PVC pipe to extend discharge from a sump pump in their basement and a portable generator, to deal with whatever power outage they might experience.
“While at the store I noticed a submersible pump,” he said. “I bought it, too.”
Their home, in an extremely flat area, has a basement that tends to flood a bit when heavy rain falls, and predictions were Sandy would bring a deluge.
Once home and with supplies in place, Mark and Jennifer decided when the storm hit they would sleep in shifts so they could respond quickly if water started to get into the basement or power was cut and the generator was needed.
“Jennifer, bless her heart, also cooked up food for us to have if the power went off,” he said, and both did their best not to alarm their three children, Lahna, 10, Kylie, 8, and Jay, 6.
“They were in the basement most of the time, playing computer games and watching videos on TV,” Mark said.
Rain started to fall Sunday evening and intensified Monday, along with the wind.
“When the storm came in the wind was blowing steady at about 40 mph with gusts up to 70 to 75,” Mark said. “That’s when you could feel the house groan, which wasn’t so bad during the day. Then you could see where the water was and what the wind was doing. When it got dark, that’s when it got scary; you couldn’t see what was happening.
“We felt pretty helpless, and just went along for the ride.”
By the time the rain began to abate, nine to 10 inches had fallen. Lights flickered on and off a few times and the only outage lasted about a minute.
Schools were closed Monday and Tuesday. The Chagarises’ children, in grades first, third and fifth, returned to school today.
Iola connection to hurricane: Unnerved but unscathed
