“It’s always scary if you don’t know what’s going to happen. And you just hope that everyone around you is going to be safe, ” the words that art history professor Julie Trager thought of when she was in New York when Hurricane Sandy hit.

The destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy left trees fallen on the ground, wrecked cars, floods of water under subways and a lot more.

She arrived in New York on Oct. 26, three days prior from Hurricane Sandy which hit on the following Monday, Oct. 29.

In the middle of the hurricane, Trager’s was staying in lower Manhattan, surrounded by extremely high winds.

“It was very frightening. It wasn’t raining hard but there was a lot of wind and a lot of anxiety about what was going to happen,” Trager continued.

“There’s something about that tense wind that I think throws the body off.”

Coming from New York to Cerritos College to continue college, criminal justice major Tim Yuen thought Hurricane Sandy was at first “going to be like another storm just to pass but when it actually happend, this time I was scared for my family (in New York).”

“I felt scared. I felt like flying back to New York even if I were to fail my classes because I believe my family is more important than school,” Yuen explained.

Not being able to leave New York, Trager was one of hundreds affected by Hurricane Sandy.

“I had no hot water, power, internet, (or) cell phone service,” Trager said.

She was surprised to experience downtown without any life; no electricity or power. “There were no traffic lights (and) there wasn’t a store open,” Trager said.

“It was bizarre to go to downtown in the evening and be absolutely pitch black.”

She had to walk 30 blocks from where she was staying at to reach cell phone service and electricity.

For Yuen, his calls to New York wouldn’t go through.

When one of the calls went through, he was able to get in touch with one of his friends. He had him go check up on his little brother to make sure he was okay.

Yuen said that if he wasn’t able to get in contact with his family, he would have taken a plane to New York to see for himself if his family was okay.

Many of Yuen’s friends showed him pictures.

“They showed me pictures of the train systems and the places where I use to hang out at.”

Yuen had sleepless nights because of the scare he had. “I failed a test (because I) was worried.”

According to an article by the Huffington Post, many buildings that Hurricane Sandy destroyed left people without work and many trying to get around have to walk to their destination because of closed subways and damaged cars.

“What was really upsetting was how many people lost work. It continued to, it’s not over,” Trager said.

She had a hard time leaving the city. “Two flights were cancelled, I couldn’t get out. All the airports were closed,” Trager said, shaking her head.

She was happy to come back to California Friday, Nov. 2 and come to work the following Monday.

“I was happy to see my students. I had emailed them prior when I knew my flight(s) was cancelled. I had been in touch with them,” Trager said.

All the damage that Hurricane Sandy made will not be cleaned up for awhile.

People affected by it are working every day to get a step closer to rebuilding what they can.