As the Northeast begins paving a road to recovery following the widespread destruction wreaked by Hurricane Sandy, moving stories of survival and heroism are beginning to emerge.
On Thursday, the New York Daily News shared the story of a New York teenager who somehow managed to weather the worst of the storm while marooned alone in his darkened, waterlogged house.
Joseph Harasym, 17, had been left alone at his Staten Island home on Monday night after his mom and older brother, Gregory, stepped out to drive the family's two vehicles to higher ground. "It was like a tsunami," Gregory, 21, said. "You could see the water coming down the street."
According to the Daily News, Gregory and his mother had no idea that the incoming floodwater would very quickly make the return home impossible. As Joseph's frantic mother called 911 through the night "begging for a rescue crew" to be sent to save her son, the teen did all he could to stay alive.
Miraculously, even though floodwaters filled the basement and first floor of his home, the teen survived. The following morning, Joseph swam "nearly a block" to a friend's house. He was eventually rescued by a family friend in a rowboat.
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In Maryland, a journalist and his family escaped death by a hair when a tree landed on their home, CBS News reports.
"I've covered a lot of tragedies as a reporter, covered a lot of trees down. But this time, it literally came home...literally, happened to me," said Bruce Leshan, a reporter at WUSA in Washington, D.C.
According to ABC News, a New Jersey couple managed to not only escape the wrath of the storm but also welcomed the birth of a baby boy earlier this week.
On Monday, as Garden State residents were warned to stay indoors and seek shelter, 34-year-old Christine Schleppy went into labor in her home in Skillman, N.J.
Risking the hazardous conditions outdoors, first responders attempted to transport Schleppy and her husband, David, to a hospital in Princeton, Patch reports. Flooding and dangerous road conditions made that impossible, however.
"We knew there were many trees down and roads getting closed left and right," David told ABC News. "It was definitely stressful."
After their ambulance became trapped in the mud en route to Princeton, the couple hopped into a fire ambulance that brought them to a mobile emergency medical unit that had been set up by Hackensack University Medical Center. The Schleppys welcomed a healthy baby boy named Liam Alexander on Monday night, writes Patch.com.