'11 Days and 8 Months Pregnant': How Locals Coped With Sandy Power Outages

More than 80 percent of LIPA customers lost power in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and many remained in the dark for several days, with a few waiting well more than a week for power to be restored. 

On the one year anniversary of Sandy, we asked readers on our Facebook page how long they were without power and how they coped. Here's a few of the responses:

Tricia Carter- Polstein: 18 days...after 5 days we got a generator - it was chilly and dark, but compared to others, we were lucky

Katrina Rivera Sevenoaks: 11 days while 8 months pregnant! Luckily we had a good friend who let myself, my husband, and my cat stay with him for 7 days once it got too cold for us! Can't believe it's been a year...

Nancy Beardsley Lyon: Nine days without electricity. It was cold and we wore lots of layers. We went to a friend's to charge our phones and computers during the day. We are lucky to have a gas stove, and we were able to cook on the stove top using a match to light it.

Michelle Stefanie: 6 days while 9 months pregnant. My husband took a trip down to PA since NY was out of generators. We didn't want to bring a new baby to a cold home if I went in to labor.

Allyson Scibelli Giles: 7 days dark. I got through with the support and help of my great neighbors!!!

Christine Genna Mott: 9 days. We had a generator and lots of board games. Really missed the news. We had no idea of the gravity of the destruction for family and friends and strangers alike until TV came back.

We'd love to hear your Sandy story. Here’s how you can share.

Visit the My Sandy Story blog here and click on the open text box under the heading to create a post.

Or, from the homepage, follow these steps:

• Sign in to your Patch. (Click “Join” if you don’t have an account yet.)
• Click the "Blogs" tab, near the top of the homepage and then locate the My Sandy Story blog in the left-hand column. Click on it.
• Click in the box that says, “Write a new post” and then click on “Article” at the top.
• Give your post a headline, enter the body of the story and upload your photos.
• Click “Post now.”