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At the height of Sandy's fury winds ripped trees from their roots in South Richmond Hill, Queens, and one snapped onto Sunny Singh's house.

"We called 311 and let them know the wire was hanging outside right here, so they came by a half-hour later and shut down power for the whole block," said Singh.

Anita Almada, who lives next door to the Singhs, said she had never seen damage like this before. While trees fell on both sides of her house, she says her family was lucky the tree in front their home stayed put.

"We were terrified. We didn't know to stay in the house or to leave. Everyone was looking out the window. We were too terrified to come out," said Almada.

"When I heard the tree fall, it sounded so loud I thought my heart would jump out of my chest," said Diane Soogrim, another neighbor. "I reached upstairs so quick, I couldn't believe it."

Although they lost power, they say they were prepared. But Sandy's wrath left them so frightened that 12 of them slept under the same room.

"I slept with my mom, my dad, my uncle, my papa, my mama, my sister and my auntie," said Ryan Soogrim, a young boy who was glad to be with his family.

The family said together they have four cars trapped in the back, so they planned to go another relative's house to charge their phones and eat hot food.