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US Azerbaijanis not hurt in Hurricane Irene

29 August 2011 07:46 (UTC +04:00)

Hurricane Irene which was downgraded from 3 to 2, and later even to 1, heat almost all of the US East Coast â€“ South and North Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, New-York, New-Jersey, etc.

State of emergency was declared in most of the hit areas, and 9 people in 5 states fell victims to the hurricane. Over one million people lost electricity on the East Coast, primarily, in Virginia. American Azerbaijanis tell APA what difficulties they experienced and they coped with them.

â€œThe TV and radio stations were telling people to buy bottled water, flashlights, candles, non-perishable foods and batteries, to prepare themselves for the worst. So did I, I went to the grocery-store on 25th and 26th of August, and the counters were almost empty! People were buying everything, like it was the end of the worldâ€, - Sarvat Jalilov from Columbia, Maryland, said.

â€œThe hurricane didnâ€™t affect our working schedule, as its most severe days were on the weekend, and no one worked anyways. The office security manager has issued a list of precaution tips for our company, we knew where to call if we had issues and what to do if we are to be evacuatedâ€, - Emil Asadzada of Alexandria, Virginia, said.

â€œOur house is on a lower line and near the water, so we were told by the authorities to get ready for evacuation, and we spent August 26-27 in evacuation, but some of my friends from Brooklyn didnâ€™t bother to leave their housesâ€, Sevinj Huseinova from Quince, NY, said.

â€œWe lost power at around 12pm on Saturday and it didnâ€™t come back until Sunday evening, but we had candles and flashlights, so we didnâ€™t freak-out, it was fine, we knew that a lot of people share our situationâ€, said Adil Nazim from New Jersey.

â€œI woke up in the morning and saw lots of tree branches that fell on my car and in my yard over the night of August 27-28. I need to get my car fixed now, but my insurance doesnâ€™t cover this kind of things, will have to pay from my pocket, which doesnâ€™t make me happy at all. But otherwise everyone is safe, I called some Azeri friends, no one seems to experience any major damage, thank God!â€ said Elvira Ramazanova from North Carolina.