In those days before Irene, I remember the work that went in to saving as much as possible, and how quickly things came together. Sometimes we forget that this wasn’t something we had weeks to plan for – it was maybe 3 or 4 days. In the week before Irene, I was working nights, and each day when I came in, more items were added to our second floor offices as people worked hurriedly, in organized groups clearing out the first floor of the church. Some things were stored on the second floor, some were loaded into trailers and driven away. All this was done not knowing if we would be hit or how much.

That Friday night, August 26 I did my night show as usual. The plan was to come back on Saturday and then evacuate by 3pm, but on Friday afternoon Franklin Township changed its mind and wanted the campus evacuated by noon. Curt and Ron (our engineers) set everything up at the bunker, loaded the generator with fuel, and the next morning I met them up at the bunker. I got on the air Saturday at 10am, and for the next 5 hours played music, provided comfort, and gave people as much information as I could find. As the clouds gathered and the winds started picking up on that mountain, I took calls from people urging their  neighbors to evacuate the shore and other flood prone areas – not to try to stick things out. I gave people addresses of shelters and reminded them that the threat was big enough to close down the entire NY City subway system.

Just before 3:00, I signed off with the Casting Crowns song “Praise You In This Storm.” I set the computer on auto-pilot and locked up the bunker as the rain started to fall. A decision was made not to put any of us in the bunker at the height of the storm, so no one would be back until 6am on Monday.

 What followed in the days and weeks ahead was nothing short of spectacular. Unable to get back to the flooded campus, people worked from the bunker, from a school building, from their house, anywhere they could to keep the station running. They made program logs, commercials, held sales meetings, and kept up on finances and office work often without seeing each other for months. When we moved in to the new building in February, it was like a big reunion. There were people I had e-mailed and even spoken with regularly, but literally hadn’t seen in 6 months. From the floods of Irene, God has blessed us with not only a new and beautiful location, but an understanding of how much can be done when people come together during extraordinarily trying times. We also understand what amazing people we work with.