Novi Family Shares NYC Hurricane Irene Experience

The Winships of Novi had already delayed their planned family vacation to New York City once this summer, so they decided to go there anyway late last week despite warnings that Hurricane Irene was also headed in that direction. 

Helen and Michael Winship and their three sons Eamon, 16, and 13-year-old twins Owen and Declan arrived late Thursday and were given a room on the 48th floor of a hotel in Times Square, which was not in the city's mandatory evacuation area.

Helen Winship said this was their first trip to New York City, and despite facing the eye of a hurricane, the vacation turned out better than she thought it would.

Preparing for the hurricane

The day after they arrived, there was a note slipped under their hotel room door from hotel management with information on what to expect should the hurricane impact the area where they were staying. The Novi family was informed that the hotel had a back-up generator, which would power main areas of the hotel and allow for minimal elevator service. The letter also instructed them to conserve on water usage should they be impacted by the storm.

Helen Winship said there were people from all over the world staying at their hotel, but "no one seemed overly frightened or concerned."

In fact, she said there were some men in a room down the hall from their's that threw a hurricane party.

The Winships stocked up on bottled water and energy bars, which they learned about from their many Boy Scout camp-outs with Novi Scout Troop 407.

Most of the stores were shut down in the Times Square area where the Winships were staying and mass transportation stopped running at noon on Saturday. That meant staffing was low at the businesses that managed to stay open, and Helen Winship said one store had customers lined up outside on the street because there were not enough employees inside to assist them.

The Winships had purchased a two-day bus pass, but since all New York City mass transit was halted as the storm approached, they explored what they could by walking around the city.

Helen Winship said she said they "saw more than what they probably would have on a bus or via the subway."

Waiting out the storm

The Winships were in their 48th floor corner hotel room when the eye of the hurricane reached the New York City area early Sunday morning. Helen Winship said the rain was hitting their windows pretty hard and she heard the wind blowing, but it was not as intense as might be expected. She said there were police cars circling the area on the street below and she saw a few people still out walking with umbrellas.

"None of us thought the weather was excessive and the general mood was upbeat," Helen Winship said.

The hurricane moved on relatively quickly and it was late Sunday evening when street vendors returned to their posts and mass transit began running again.

The next morning, the Winships made a quick visit to the Today Show before heading to the airport well before their scheduled flight time, anticipating delays.

They were offered compensation to change their flight when checking in online, but declined, just grateful they were able to return to Novi as scheduled.

Helen Winship said the airport was surprisingly not very crowded, but there were a lot of people there waiting on standby hoping to get on a flight. Thousands of flights had been canceled along the east coast because of the hurricane.

The Winships returned to Novi on Monday and resumed their busy schedules, preparing to return to where all three children attend.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to accurately describe the city's evacuation areas.