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October 29, 2012

Stuck in SoHo with Superstorm Sandy

Kori (Murphree) Nix shares her account on eve of approaching storm

Toni Hopper The Duncan Banner

New York — A storm of historic proportions is expected to slam into the East Coast today, and while most people are evacuating or preparing for the monster storm which began as Hurricane Sandy, one Oklahoma newlywed couple flew into New York City Saturday so they could hopefully make their honeymoon cruise.

Kori and Jaron Nix are sitting in a 12-story Holiday Inn in SoHo, Manhattan, and on Sunday, they saw just how serious New Yorkers are about the storm, now nicknamed Frankenstorm. Officially the storm has been renamed "Superstorm Sandy."

“The entire city is shut down. We are actually waiting for room service. Everything is closed up, the police started shutting everything down today,” Kori said.

Kori, the daughter of Kreg and Donna Murphree of Duncan, said this isn’t her first trip to NYC, but it is the first time she’s ever experienced anything like this. She said it’s a much different feeling than an Oklahoma storm.

She and Jaron booked a honeymoon cruise aboard a Princess line that is scheduled to leave NYC on Wednesday. They originally weren’t scheduled to arrive in NYC until Monday. The cruise line has assured them their ship will sail, but to be there, they had to change their flight and arrive in the city two days earlier than scheduled.

After getting there, they realized they needed some supplies, like snacks and flashlights, to ride out the storm. On Saturday, they headed into Times Square, but it was already looking like a ghost town. By Sunday, it was a ghost town.

“We were talking about it on our walk back to the hotel. It was eerie. We went yesterday (Saturday) to try to get flashlights, but the only place that was open, didn’t have any,” Kori said Sunday night about 8 p.m. She said they are charging everything (electronics).

“We anticipate it to be really bad Monday morning,” she said.

It has helped, she said, to watch the news. NYC has been zoned into categories and Zone A has been issued mandatory evacuation orders. The Nixes are in Zone C, which has not been issued to evacuate.

Even so, she said few hotel workers are available.

“I’m thinking most of the hotel people have gone home, because we are having a hard time getting help here. They’ve shut down all the transit systems and subway system at 7 p.m. tonight.”

She said the hotel though does appear to be completely booked and could be from people in other parts of the city who had to leave their homes. She wasn’t completely sure though.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this before; but we’re not concerned, not at all,” she said. “It’s cold and windy, but no rain here yet.”

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