Sandy: A Hurricane of Epic Proportions

 Photo Source: Good Morning America Facebook page--a morning after the storm rainbow

A quick post to let you all know we survived Hurricane Sandy!  We were very fortunate that our neighborhood in Brooklyn suffered very little damage and that we still have electrical power. My brother and sister-in-law, and my three nephews that live in communities in Nassau and Suffolk Counties in Long Island are among the 90% of Long Islanders left without electrical power.

 Photo Source: The Atlantic

Much of New York City has lost electrical power...

Photo Source: The Atlantic

 ...as the storm surge poured into all the Boroughs of New York City last night it left a path of destruction.

Photo Source: The Atlantic

Do you remember my blog post (click here to read) about the charming Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park?  Last evening the East River overflowed its banks and it was almost submerged.  Sadly, the beautiful little neighborhood of Gerritsen Beach, that I blogged about on this post, was almost entirely destroyed by flood waters.

Photo Source: The Atlantic

The seaside communities of Breezy Point, and Rockaway, Queens (see this post) were severely flooded and suffered many fires. The community of Long Beach, Long Island, and City Island were left almost unlivable without electricity, water, and sewer service. I heard that communities in Staten Island had Katrina like rescues last night, as houses became submerged to the roofs by flood waters.  If there was one lesson learned by all with this storm is that orders of an evacuation of low lying coastal areas is important and not something to be ignored in future storms.

Except for minor basement flooding, roof and siding damage, broken tree limbs, and spotty power outages, my Brooklyn neighborhood did OK. We were so very fortunate!

My heart goes out to those whose families suffered the loss of life and property and business damage. You are in my thoughts and prayers. My sincere thanks go out to the first responders who worked tirelessly through the storm, risking their own lives to help others.

Thank you to all who e-mailed, called, and left messages on facebook to see how we were doing! I really appreciate your love, concern, and friendship!