The lights all over Palisades went out about 6 o’clock, but that was just the beginning. In the midst of the howling winds and pouring rain, the trees began to fall. Dennis and Leslie Hayes were putting their coats on in their front hall, on their way to Sam Gerard’s memorial party, when a large tree fell on their car. They never reached the Community Center, where the party ended in the dark.

Another tree fell on Betty Bacheldor’s house, forcing her to move out temporarily. Three large trees fell across Ludlow Lane, dragging wires down and completely blocking the road. The Sandhauses lost two huge fir trees, probably over 100 years old. Woods Road was blocked by fallen trees, as was Lawrence Lane and the end of Washington Spring Road. Alice Gerard lost so many shingles from her roof that she needed a new one.

Scott Kling and Cynthia Fuller-Kling, who live on Highland Avenue, were the worst hit. At eight o’clock they were in their kitchen, attempting to make pasta for supper in the dark, when they heard a massive thud from the direction of their bedroom. Picking up a lantern, they went to see what had happened and found that the whole wall on the driveway side of the room had collapsed. Tree trunks had crashed onto its roof and one tree branch had come right through it. The room was open to the elements, and there was sheetrock all over the bed.

Five trees had fallen onto the house, completely blocking Highland Avenue as well. One of the trees, a massive pin oak from their yard, had also fallen on their car, a Highland Toyota. Another of the trees missed their second car, a Mini-Cooper, by four inches. A fire chief who was in the area told them they had to leave the house, so they walked to 9W, knee-deep in water, where the chief picked them up. He took them to the house of their neighbors David and Michael, where they spent the night. The shock of the destruction really hit home about 7AM the next morning. A month later, the damage was almost repaired, but floors in the bedroom were still drying.

Franny Breer, who lives on Ludlow Lane, remembers that when she tried to take her dog Felix out for a walk, “…dead trees and live trees swaying in a mad dance forced us back Ludlow Lane, showing one car that spent the night in the Rosenwasser's field. Photo by David Gottlieb. The Klings' bedroom; photo by David Gottlieb inside the barn. Nobody could get through — one unlucky fellow, detoured so much he didn't know where he was, spent the night in his car after making deep tracks in the Rosenwassers' lawn.” The three trees that fell on Ludlow were all from her property, leaving her with a huge clean-up job.

People who were trying to get home that night — to Palisades or to somewhere else — had many adventures. Route 9W was closed in both directions, and a number of the side roads were closed as well. Two large trees fell on Closter Road, trapping between them a motorist trying to get to Leonia. In desperation, he knocked on the Kelloggs’ door around 9:30 that evening and Herb and Jeanette Kellogg invited him to spend the night. Herb says that he was a pleasant young man, a Pole, and they sat and talked for a while in the dark before they all went to bed.

Al Perlmutter and Joan Konner, also attempting to reach home, describe their adventure below:

“Fortunately, we weren’t at home. That is the headline. We were at the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts Saturday night where our son-in-law Robert Steinbaum, husband of Rosemary, was being celebrated for his contributions to the arts.

“We returned home to a scene of wreckage, first slaloming all the way up a pitch-black Route 9W, strewn with fallen trees. When we hit the downhill in Palisades to Washington Spring Road, we were halted by a line of backed up cars, blocked by a fallen tree. We turned around. Someone had thoughtfully opened the gates to Lamont. However, when we arrived at the bottom of the hill, there was a large tree blocking Ludlow Lane and several cars had pulled off the road for the duration. It was now about 1 AM.

“We parked and started to walk, flashlight in hand and in formal attire. We rounded the first tree, sinking ankle deep in the mud in the Rosenwasser field, discovering a second fallen tree, and tiptoed through the wires it had taken with it. As if young again, we walked home through the lighter rain to find Alyssa Dreyfus, who lives in our house, waiting to greet us. Two windows had blown out. Our bedroom was covered with glass shrapnel, and the driving rain had drenched the rugs and floors. A large tree in front had split and blown against the windows, damaging the roof.

“Fortunately, Alyssa was visiting next door with Alice Gerard and the Lehreckes when the tree hit the house. Alyssa returned home to the wreckage. Danny came over, and they worked together to seal the missing windows with plastic, tarps and duct tape. Thank you, again, Alyssa and Danny.

“Update: The house is getting back into shape, although the windows take some time to order. Industrial-sized dryers ran in two rooms for over a week until the rugs and floor dried out. As we said to each other, after all, this isn’t Haiti, but it was a storm that deserves a name.”

Many Palisadians lost power for three days. As Franny said, “For the first 24 hours it was fun playing pioneer, but then a bit tiring to keep my tiny wood stove going all night, and sleepdepriving to boot.”

Six weeks after the storm, most of the damage has been cleaned up. People have filed their insurance claims and repaired their houses. Some have bought generators. But this storm will live in our memories for years to come.