Dealing With the Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy

By Briana Luca, Student at Iona College

It's been rough on the East Coast after Hurricane Sandy ripped through the tri-state area and left complete destruction in its path.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have never seen a storm like this, so residents were not as prepared as they should’ve been. Sandy wiped out everything in its path, causing everything from fires to flooding to power outages.

Queens, Staten Island and Long Island were the worst hit spots I’ve seen. The destruction in some of my favorite neighborhoods was something out of a movie. Myself, along with fellow superstorm victims, never expected that anything like this could happen to us.

Breezy Point, a close-knit beach town in Queens was totally wiped out. It wasn’t just water and flooding that destroyed this neighborhood but a six-alarm fire that burned down over 100 houses.

Breezy was a place that I spent my summers; it was filled with my childhood memories and to see photos of the aftermath is completely heartbreaking.

My own hometown was unrecognizable as I drove up the main boulevard last week. The National Guard was stationed in a parking lot, windows were smashed in and there was not a street light in sight. Trees were down, houses were filled with water and ruined furniture and belongings were strewn at the curbs.

Seeing my neighborhood at the hands of this horrible hurricane was horrifying. No one ever thinks this kind of disaster will happen to them, but Mother Nature doesn’t care who you are or where you live -- she will do whatever she pleases.

I, along with many others, remember seeing pictures of Hurricane Katrina and the damage it did to those cities and towns that were in its way. Now, it’s our homes that are in the rubble and it’s been really difficult to deal with.

However, there is always a bright side to every rainy day and this disaster has shown people’s true colors. Everyone in ruined neighborhoods have banded together to rebuild.

It’s neighbors helping neighbors; people are lending a helping hand and truly giving back to the ones who lost everything.

"Homes were destroyed, people are completely homeless, but Staten Island pulled together as a community, and I was really surprised to see how people my age came together to help out," said Marissa Ginsberg, a junior at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y.

It's going to take time to rebuild and get things back to normal, but this is New York and New Yorkers always fight back. Nothing can keep a New Yorker down, not even a storm as destructive as Sandy.

[Image information: Queens, N.Y., Nov. 1, 2012 -- FEMA Community Relations (CR) team members moved through Breezy Point and Rockaway, NY, after Hurricane Sandy. The CR members talked with disaster survivors about FEMA assistance and assessed the situation on the ground. Photo by Walt Jennings / FEMA]