CHS grads victims of Sandy

When Custer High School graduate Ashley Ziemann heard Superstorm Sandy was about to make a left turn into New Jersey, she and her boyfriend did their best to prepare.

The two took what she described as “normal hurricane precautions,”â��bringing in patio furniture, making sure windows and doors were secure, stocking up on food and baby necessities for their 4-month-old and filling their tanks with fuel.

Then, they waited.

Ziemann, a class of 2003 graduate of CHS, moved back to her home state of New Jersey in 2003 to attend college and has lived on the Jersey Shore ever since. She resides in Asbury Park, N.J., where she manages a corporate retail store.

When the storm hit land on Monday, Ziemann and her family went to her mother’s house, which is an hour west of the shore, closer to Philadelphia. Ziemann said she figured doing so would make them safer than being by the water front if the storm was as fierce as projected.

“Iâ��have to say that most people took the storm warnings lightly because of Hurricane Irene last August,”â��she said.â��“Irene was predicted to be equally damaging and ended up thankfully losing momentum. As a result, I don’t think people thought Sandy would do what she did to the coast.”

Ziemann said many people ignored evacuation orders and didn’t bother to prepare to be without electricity or secure their property.