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VIDEO: Sandy Survivor: 'I Thought I Made a Fatal Mistake'

A man who rode out Sandy's landfall tells his story of that night on the island most devastated by the storm's fury

Charlie Lord has seen his share of storms come through the Jersey Shore.

The 55-year resident of Lavallette remembers '62. He remembers the Halloween storm of 1991, the Perfect Storm, the December 1992 nor'easter that tore up much of the Jersey Shore, and he remembers the close calls of Hurricane Gloria in 1985 and, of course, Hurricane Irene in 2011.

He figured that Hurricane Sandy would be no different.

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"My wife wanted to leave but I said no," Lord said, a few days after he finally got off the island. "Next time, I'll go."

For a frightening hour on Oct. 30, Lord said, he wasn't sure they were going to survive.

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When the ocean breached the dunes, the water rose quickly around his Vance Avenue home. Within minutes his front yard was flooded, and quickly the water reached the second step of his home.

"As I was standing there, a chunk of something came up, our porch lifted up and crashed," and pieces went everywhere, he said. "At that point I looked at my wife and said, 'I think I made a fatal mistake. I am sorry.' "

"I wish to hell I'd gotten off when the governor told us to get off," he said. "He was right."

Hear Charlie tell his story in his own words by clicking the video above.

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