Escape From the Jersey Shore

The article originally appeard on OnEarth. “Mom, they can’t stay,” I pleaded into the phone. “That’s a really bad idea.” Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on my parents’ waterfront home, and a mandatory evacuation order had been issued for their town, but my father and brother said they had no intention of leaving—and worse, my mother was thinking of staying with them. Governor Chris Christie was on TV warning that anyone who ignored the order and got in trouble would be left behind. And forecasters were predicting nearly apocalyptic storm conditions for the Jersey Shore. My mom had undergone heart surgery less than two weeks before and was in no condition to flee a storm surge. But Dad and my brother, Kevin, thought they could weather Sandy, just as they had Hurricane Irene a little more than a year before. The house my parents bought in 19...