>>The Perfect Shot
The brunt of Superstorm Sandy hit on a Monday (Oct. 29, 2012). But you may remember that heavy rain and wind pummeled South Jersey all weekend long. Oddly enough, our annual Best of SJ party was held the night before the storm began, and Meteorologist Kathy Orr was one of our honorees. When she took the stage to accept her award, she said a gracious thank you and then began warning us of what was to come. There was this kind of moan from the audience, because no one believed her. The consensus was the weather reports were probably wrong, so everyone had an “it-can’t-be-that-bad” attitude. But Kathy didn’t stop, telling everyone she talked to at the party about the severity of the storm, saying there was no question it was going to happen.
A few months later, we devoted all our features in the December issue to the aftermath. Five SJ Mag writers looked at the story from different angles: the fire chief who was one of the first to respond, the Good Samaritan who spent days going door to door to give people donated generators, the chef who traveled to Staten Island and set up an outdoor kitchen to feed anyone who came by, and the couple who were rescued from their home by boat. Of course, we started the feature with Kathy Orr who, after the Best of SJ party, headed home to pack a suitcase. She was about to begin a marathon broadcast on the storm we never thought could happen here.
