36 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 2, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Looking back at Sandy’s devastation 5 years ago
BY THE QUEENS COURIER STAFF
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
No one alive to experience it will ever be
able to forget Hurricane Sandy, one of the
worst natural disasters ever to hit Queens
and much of the northeast United States.
Th ough the storm made landfall near
Atlantic City, NJ, at about 6 p.m. on Oct.
29, 2012 — fi ve years ago last Sunday
— the New York City area was pounded
with an extraordinary storm surge and
heavy winds, causing widespread damage
to coastal areas such as Howard Beach,
the Rockaways and Staten Island.
Waves wiped out the Rockaway
Boardwalk and homes all along the peninsula.
Th e surf caused widespread damage
in Broad Channel and left much of
Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach
under water. Winds in excess of 70 mph
whipped a fi re across Breezy Point that
destroyed more than a hundred homes.
Firefi ghters — unable to get close to the
fi re due to fl ooding — could only stand
and watch as the inferno consumed one
home aft er another.
Th is page features just some of the
images Th e Queens Courier and the
Ridgewood Times published in the days
aft er Sandy slammed Queens.
While New York City alone had a death
toll of 41, CNN reported that at least 92
people lost their lives in the United States
as a whole. Governor Andrew Cuomo
said the storm cost the state $32.8 billion
in repair and restoration costs, with $15
million spent in New York City.
In the immediate aft ermath, people
from across the city and country rallied
to assist the storm victims. Communities
held impromptu relief drives, gathering
supplies to help storm-stricken residents
rebuild. At the same time, Queens also
grappled with diminished resources; gasoline,
in particular, was in short supply,
and emergency fuel trucks were brought
in to power up vehicles and generators.
Th e city’s infrastructure also took a massive
hit. Th e Queens Midtown Tunnel,
along with the Greenpoint Tube that carries
Tom and Deidre Duff y, who lived in their Breezy Point home for 24 years, came back to salvage some of their belonging after their home burned down
along with a dozen other homes in Breezy Point, New York, as a result from Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. (Anthony DelMundo for New
York Daily News)
the G train below the Newtown Creek,
were fl ooded with salt water. Th e MTA
scrambled to make temporary repairs to
bring the tunnels back into service, and
embarked in the years that followed on a
massive rebuilding plan. Still, the rebuilding
goes on as the authority makes permanent
repairs while simultaneously shoring
up the infrastructure for whenever
the next major coastal storm hits the area.
Hurricane Sandy have left a last mark
on these communities. Despite numerous
eff orts to rebuild the area, including
the controversial Build it Back program,
some areas still haven’t completely recovered
now fi ve years removed from Sandy.
The Legacy Center in Glendale was among the many Queens charities that held relief drives to help
local hurricane victims.
The destroyed Rockaway Boardwalk lies like a pile of matchsticks. The East River fl ooded Long Island City during Hurricane Sandy’s peak.