Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those impacted by devastating Hurricane Sandy. While the center of the storm slid right across Lancaster County, Pennsylvania before turning northward, most of the Amish seemed to fare pretty well. Loss of electric, which can cripple large cities, doesn't impact the Amish much, of course. The storm's impact was felt westward well into Ohio, but nothing horrible for most Amish.
"It's mainly been just wind, cold, and rain," said an Amish maple syrup maker in Geauga County, Ohio. "Haven't seen any snow so far, and I hope I don't!"
Daniel Kline, an Amish farmer in Cazenovia, New York, to me this morning that "we really didn't get all that much rain and the wind never did get up as high as they said, so we're doing pretty well here."
Samuel Esh runs a dairy farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and he said Sandy brought "lots of wind and rain, but we got through it OK. It seemed to hit worse to the west over by York."
I haven't talked to any Amish in Delaware, which was hit pretty hard by Sandy, but they probably hunkered and got through OK.
Linda Bolt
I always think of the Amish when I hear of these massive power outages, and wonder if it would be prudent if more of us had alternative power sources. But difficult to see how that would be possible in big cities like New York?
How do the Amish that have well water get their water pumped up, without electricity?