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Subscribe to RSSIn Breezy Point, N.Y., a Queens neighborhood that lost more than 100 homes, endured catastrophic damage. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Breezy Point, in New York City's Queens borough, was built in part by New York City firefighters and their families in the early 1900s. A large section of it was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, in part because firefighters couldn't get there.
The idyllic community of around 3,800 homes – many wooden bungalows, packed tightly together – sits on an isolated spit of land, connected to mainland New York City by two bridges. It enjoys both bayside and ocean views, a luxury that makes it a target for both New Yorkers and every large storm that roars ashore from the Atlantic. But it wasn't rain or wind that did in Breezy Point – it was fire and logistics.
The idyllic beachfront town of Breezy Point, N.Y., suffered through 9/11 and a devastating jet crash. But this tight-knit community is determined to carry on despite being ravaged by Superstorm Sandy. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
At the height of Sandy's fury late Monday, when a devastating blaze ignited in the heart of the community, firefighters were slowed by flooded roadways and other weather-related challenges, finally requiring help from the National Guard to get through. As they were working out an approach, flames fueled by massive winds jumped from home to home, consuming family histories along with the buildings holding them. By the time the blaze was contained, more than 100 homes – and St. Genevieve's Catholic Church – were destroyed, ripping the heart out of the community.
Breezy Point is sometimes called the Irish Riviera – or by its Gaelic name Cois Farraige, which means "By The Sea." Irish police and firefighters looking for affordable seaside homes rushed to build in the area when transportation to and from the city became readily available just over a century ago. It has remained one of the most Irish enclaves in America, with more than half the residents claiming Irish heritage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nicole Makridis, who lives in a ground-floor condominium in Breezy Point, across the street from Rockaway Beach, took this photo on Tuesday when she returned to assess the damage from Sandy. The dark band on the wall shows how high the floodwaters climbed in her unit.
"If you are interested in learning anything — the bagpipes or the tin whistle or Irish dancing," Breezy Point is the place, Dolores Mulholland told the Irish Echo, a New York-based newspaper aimed at Irish immigrants, in a feature story on the neighborhood last year.
Even Frank McCourt, the famed chronicler of Irish-American life who wrote "Angela's Ashes," once lived there, but few outsiders have the chance. Property rarely comes up for sale, and when it does, buyers must come up with a 50 percent down payment required by co-op rules. The Breezy Point Cooperative, which governs the area, pays for its own security force, and is one of the rare spots in New York City where the fire department is still run by volunteers.
They were no match for the record-breaking storm and fire that gutted the place early Tuesday morning. The blaze did not discriminate. Rep. Robert Turner, R-N.Y., who won a special election to replace disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner last year, lost his home in the blaze. So did state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long.
In Breezy Point, Queens, Sandy's flood damage was compounded by a massive fire, and the devastation was compared to post-WWII Berlin. NBC News' Hoda Kotb reports.
Breezy Point was under mandatory evacuation orders when Sandy rolled in, so many residents spent Monday night watching terrified on television, or scanning the Internet, looking at distant images showing their beloved beach community engulfed by water and flames. They hoped friends and family got out in time, and hoped their homes could dodge the triple threat of wind, flood and fire. Few did.
Mike Groll / AP
This aerial photo shows burned-out homes in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough New York after a fire on Oct. 30. The tiny beachfront neighborhood told to evacuate before Sandy hit New York burned down as it was inundated by floodwaters, transforming a quaint corner of the Rockaways into a smoke-filled debris field.
'I can see a fire from my house'
Max Countryman got an alarming text from his mother, Paula, in the early morning hours on Tuesday asking if there was a fire on Breezy Point. Paula and her partner had decided to ride the storm out, as she and Max had ridden out Hurricane Irene with little trouble last year.
"I can see a fire from my house," the text said.
Max had left his mother at her Bedford Avenue home only a day earlier, after scoring a ticket on one of the last pre-storm flights out of New York. Back home in San Francisco, after Paula's electricity, phone and Internet service went out, he had to rely on her texts, news reports and, finally, the Web.
Breezy Point, N.Y., home to 9/11 responders who lost their lives, suffered devastating losses as a result of Sandy. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports.
"I was just listening to the Fire Department scanner (online) all night," he said. "I listened to the progression of the fire, when it went from one alarm, to two, three, four, five, six alarms. ... It was horrible to listen to the traffic, hear another block is engulfed in flames, another block, and they just couldn't stop the progression."
He took to Twitter to ask for help, but soon learned there was no way for his mother to get off the island. At first, he was more concerned about flooding.
"I'm in contact with her. But there's probably not a lot to do but wait," he told one user. "There's a second floor and deck. And I suppose there's always the roof. But for now it's not that bad."
But quickly, fire became the bigger worry.
"Breezy Point is in dire shape at the moment: between twelve and fifteen homes are on fire, a church is burning, and the FDNY is stuck," he wrote. A little later, he tweeted: "@FDNY what's the status on the 3-alarm in Breezy Point? My mom is stuck (on) Bedford Ave, fire is not too far away." Then, this, a moment later: "@FDNY ... What should people stuck on the point do as the fire approaches their homes?"
About the same time, Chelsea Taylor was sweating out the storm and fire from her home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. For Taylor's family, Breezy Point has been like an extended family hotel for the past two decades. Her sister Nicole Makridis lives on Bayside Avenue; her aunt, uncle and their two kids live next door.
Courtesy Nicole Makridis
The boardwalk that used to grace Rockaway Beach washed across the street and ended up at the front door of Breezy Point resident Makridis and her neighbors.
"I was basically raised over in Breezy Point because of a beach club over there and it was absolutely beautiful," she said. "I've spent endless summers over there and a lot of my high school friends live over there."
Before Sandy’s landfall, Makridis had evacuated to Taylor's home, but the other family household stayed behind. Taylor found out during the night that parents and kids – a 3-year-old and a 9-year-old – were evacuated by boat, but she couldn't find out where.
"(I) found out they were evacuated by boat to the clubhouse. I have no idea where that is though," she told NBCNews on Tuesday. "It was the 9-year-old's birthday on Saturday," she added.
The uncertainty and fear were felt by many others with roots in Breezy Point.
Chris Gavagan is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn who grew up on Breezy Point; his father and brother still live there. His father retreated to ride out Sandy in Brooklyn, but brother Rob stayed behind in Breezy Point. When Chris Gavagan discovered Max Countryman's tweets about this mother, the two shared notes and determined that Countryman's mother and Gavagan's brother were neighbors.
"My brother (we haven't heard from since 8p) lives about 100ft away. The Army is involved now," Gavagan said on Twitter, referring to the National Guard.
Reading texts, monitoring fire scanner
Countryman never lost contact with his mother through the frightful night. While she couldn't place calls, text messages continued to work and her cellphone battery held out. He knew when her first floor filled with 4 feet of water. As the night wore on, he heard on the FDNY scanner activity that wind had blown the fire the opposite direction, away from his mother's house. Then, after the high tide waters receded, he figured she was out of immediate danger.
He still had no idea how to help her, however – and his mother and her partner didn't know what to do next.
"They were going to try to rent a car, or somehow get a car – my mom's partner hadn't heard from her mom, so they want to go into Brooklyn and check on her," he recalled. "But it's probably impossible for them to leave the house."
He reflected on his mother's decision to stay, and said it was complicated. Their first option was to evacuate, but the nearest family member's home – in "Zone A" in Brooklyn – was also under a mandatory evacuation order. The couple has two dogs and a bird, making evacuation to anywhere else challenging. Such potentially life-threatening calculations were not unusual. The Wall Street Journal reported that perhaps 60 percent of Breezy Point residents tried to ride out the storm there.
Ramin Talaie / EPA
A firefighter garden gnome stands as a lonely sentinel if a swath of Breezy Point, N.Y., destroyed by fire on Monday as Hurricane Sandy battered the community.
PhotoBlog: Evacuations continue and residents take stock in destroyed Breezy Point
Nonetheless, as the weather began to clear on Tuesday, he wondered aloud why his mother wasn't getting more help leaving her badly damaged home.
"You'd think the National Guard would want to step in and evacuate, maybe make an attempt to get people out at dawn. But right now I don't know what they are going to do," he said.
Gavagan got good news, too, as he was able to make it to Breezy Point Tuesday to check on his brother in person.
Chris Gavagan
Rob Gavagan and his father, Donald, assess the damage from superstorm Sandy in front of the elder Gavagan's Breezy Point home on Tuesday.
"(My brother) rode it out in a house where taking on water was the concern. He had a few feet (of water) in the house," he said.
Perhaps for the best, he said, brother Rob didn't know about the fire because he was too busy caring for their home.
A picture Gavagan sent to NBC News shows his father and brother already cleaning up debris around the house, carrying away a sign that reads, "Beach Officially Closed." He was able to let Countryman know that he'd seen his mother's home.
"The sidewalks and areas around her house still have feet of water, but there is plenty of help now," he said. He also reported that the National Guard was on the scene, but didn't know if they were evacuating residents.
Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.
For others, relief was delayed and tempered by the loss of treasured memories.
Chelsea Taylor was still waiting late Tuesday to hear where her uncle, aunt and their children ended up, assuming they were OK but worrying nonetheless. Her sister was able to make her way back to Breezy Point to get see the damage, but that did nothing to lighten her mood.
"Looking at the pictures my sister just showed me of her house is absolutely heartbreaking," she said. "Her whole house is completely flooded. "The flooding is unbearable. She lives on a floor level condo right across the street from the beach in Rockaway. … The boardwalk from the beach also washed up to right in front of her door."
Lauren Pallini's family lives in a home on Breezy Point that was also flood damaged.
She spent Tuesday scheming how to get into the neighborhood so she could see the damage for herself. NBC News connected with her on Twitter as she started the trip over from Brooklyn.
"To Breezy now," she said. Then, in Twitterspeak, "#Soscared."
An hour later, she'd seen the destruction.
"There's no hope for my house. Can't stop crying. I literally lost everything," she wrote. "Everything is flooded and literally everything got wet so everything is ruined."
Bob Sullivan writes The Red Tape Chronicles blog for NBC News. Follow him on Twitter at @RedTapeChron
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Leave a Comment:
they said the storm will cost a record breaking $20 billion dollors hahahhah we @!$%# out that much to afghanistan war in like 2 months.... I hate this ****ing government.
You wanted a oceanview and to live close to the ocean.
Now you are crying because a hurricane wiped your house out.
Although knowing what could happen, you still love there.
Gods wrath for eastern people treating people like s**t.
Start treating people with respect, maybe God won't punish you.
Ahhh, yes. That good ol' Christian charity, love and forgiveness. It's too early in the morning for irony.
People have always lived by the water. It is an almost universal desire to have that home close to the most important element of life. That firefighters would want to have the serenity and relaxing atmosphere that the oceanside offers is not unusual and I am happy that they had this enclave for over 100 years.
I am at a loss to understand what you mean by "eastern people treating people like ***T". I doubt God's wrath had anything to do with this, or any other natural disaster (although He may be furious over our dismissal of global warming). The monster Tornado that devastated Alabama in 2011, the floods in MO, the other terrible storms that have struck our continent cannot be ascribed to God. They can be more properly, I think, attributed to man's destruction of the planet.
GM Bill
If ya wanna house by the ocean and sand at your back door, then, sometimes there is a price to pay - as in rebuilding everytime a storm like Sandy comes through the area. Mother Nature can be "fickle" sometimes, but sure is determined! I do not think religious beliefs have anything to do with it.
gm Jack,
Agreed. If you live in the Rockies, yer gonna get snowed on ..... a lot. Whether you believe in God or not.
Obama called to say that " You did not build that"!
I think Prez. Obama needs to tax those evil rich at a 90% rate to pay for this damage.......
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012
Romney said "All of you should have leased a jet to fly out to one of your other 8 homes, stupid middle class will never learn." Now Romney will want to raise their taxes (fees) to rebuild and collect hundreds of millions from the disadvantage for corporations.
Just ponder a moment... if Romney had been President these last 4yrs FEMA would be a state agency. There would be very limited Federal Government response due to ever increasing tax breaks for Romney's friends. And NJ would be on it's own.
Well GadGetMan1966, I don't know where your from, but I bet it is somewhere in the South West? Sorry that people find us rude or not nice up here in the NorthEast. We have places to go, things to do, and places to go, like WORK. We don't have time to take "our time", because we have nothing to do or we can't wait for you inbreed F's to speak a sentence. Is that rude enough for you? Make sure you give the same advice to the people that keep rebuilding in Tornado alley, on the Mississippi River or how about in New Orleans where they are below sea level. I looked at your profile page, looks like your a rude ahole too, I didn't see one nice or intelligent post on your page.
East Coast Rob,
Perfectly stated. And, BTW, one of the most wonderful summers was when I had a friend who had Grandma's summer house in BP, a house she had for 50 years. I lived 25 minutes away in Brooklyn (hour by bike) also in an area near the bay but a world away. The train station into Manhattan isn't far either and a luxury express bus will take you into Man within an hour and at a reasonable cost. As soon as you make a right coming off the Marine Park Bridge, the fed gov turned a former Coast Guard station into a park and beach with dunes, endangered critters, even the water started getting bluer. Where else can you go in NYC and have the beach to yourself? There was no place nearby to park w/o a special permit so bike only.
Then, as you head further towards Breezy Point, it was a beautiful as the Hamptons w/o the snootiness, with very nice, down to earth people. And before anyone claims they were guys being guys, it was EVERYONE. Older ladies asking me to come up on the porch for something icey...asking if I was hungry...amazing! People in NY are friendly and nice, I found in living there since I was born and until 30, but this area truly was something special. I can see why people take risks to live there.
As a very political guy, I am wondering how this article turned to politics.
Go tell your blatant LIES elsewhere, this story is about the storm. You people have no brains, therefore no scruples. The most despicable group of Americans we have yet produced.
NYC and surrounding areas are full of buildings completely vulnerable to high winds and water. No surprise at the damage done. Even most of the buildings on the NJ shore wouldn't pass Florida code for hurricane preparedness. They just got ransacked. And this was only a category 1!
God does not punish people like this! PEople like you give those who believe a bad name!! If anything, he helps those who pray and need help. Nature did this. Not God. And no, I am NOT a major regious freak either, I just believe he exists!
@!$%# you, tool. I hope a tornado wipes the street with your holier than thou ass.
Wow, God did this to punish people. First of all there is no God. So there is no punishment. Just nature doing what it does best. It lets us know that it is in control. Get a life already.
Just think of all that gas and oil from those vehicles that is going to get washed into the drains and then into the ocean. All that stuff has to go somewhere, so I hope the beaches will be off limits for the health safety of the public till the ocean has had time to sort it out.
I hope the states have learned a valuable lesson. New restrictions should be put in place to make sure that if a storm of this magnitude should happen again that the homes are far enough back to stand the wind and water.
If not then the state should make it mandatory that they have to carry personal flood and water damage insurance so that FEMA does not have to dish out year after year. Like they do for the people who live along the Mississippi. Get out of the way of nature.
New opportunities and restrictions for people who live near the water and possible flooding. Mother nature has spoken and I hope that everyone takes the hint.
Our good wishes for a fast recovery are with the East.
"First of all there is no God"..........if that's true, why did you capitalize "God"? Many of us that believe in God HAVE a life, and it sounds like it is better than yours. And just to make you sound sillier, you mention "Mother Nature has spoken". You're a sick puppy.
You can't prove or disprove the existance of God. So here we have another typically arogant athiest response, which is foolish. Just because you do not believe in God does not mean there is no God. It simply means that you do not believe it.
I agree,tired of non believers pushing THIER beliefs on everyone else! It's just as bad as those who believe in God, pushing it on others. I do believe he exists. Look around you, it didn't all just 'happen" and I have had it proven to me after being in a accident, he does exist!
This thread gave me cancer.
to Bill and Demar:
A reality check for both of you:
In the world of magical (religious) thinking, things are true unless proven false.
In the REAL WORLD, things are false unless proven true.
Organized religion was created in the days before science and education as a means of controlling the poor, the emotionally needy, and the less intelligent, while making religious leaders rich and powerful. In this regard it has been wildly successful.
Organized religion and belief in an imaginary god is the true root of all evil, hatred, wars, and prejudice in the world today. The eradication of organized religion would go a long way towards peace for all.
Really? No houses near oceans, because of a rare storm? Following that rationale: no houses in Cali, because of earthquakes; no houses in the plains, tornados; in the mountains, avalanches and forest fires. Get real, dude. Let's move everyone out of New Orleans as well, Katrina could happen again.
You jackasses that offer up 'more restrictions imposed by the government' as a solution are not worthy of living in this country.
Appletoad----You win--
those of us who deal in Atoms and Molecules (both in capital--because they are real) every day have a real hard time with these 10,000 religions just in the state of NY (many for tax write off reasons).--But as a scientist, I think it is ok to keep people without any real purpose/education occupied mentally, but they sure do kill a lot of people over and over and over on this globe--------different type of football game!
In GoLd They Trust.
Always with THEIR logic. Always with their PROOF needed (or absence of proof).
Always with THEIR ridicule (their WANT in an attempt for the rest to reject themselves in favor of THEIR power).
Check them out and their crap. Check the smell. The odor. The slime.
Little homeopathic doses, trying to convince others of their stupidity and "our" need for them.
No need to argue about it, we will all have the answer the second we die... whether we're right or wrong. I don't understand why people get so worked up about religion(s).
Most of these places that got hit are islands so it'll be a little hard to keep people far enough away from the water! I mean even on the mainland the surge went for half a mile at least in some places - probably more.
And for those of you with fighting words for atheists - Steven100's response was to that jackass and those like him in comment #1 who go around blaming people's morals/rudeness/sexuality/etc for why god chose to punish them and 9 million others with a hurricane. You will never find an atheist saying that some bull@!$%# force has destroyed someone because they weren't perfect. What kind of people think their @!$%# smells so fresh that god will go around killing others that they don't like??
Yeah I'll have a beer with an atheist any day. At least they know their place in this world.
Uh, Steven100, no private insurance company that I know of gives a rats ass about flood damage. It's FEMA, through private insurance companies.
And Robin John, get your advertising ass off the 'Vine. You're already reported by me and probably by a lot of others as well. You WILL be kicked off the entire Newsvine thread because of your stupidity.
Steven100
Wow, God did this to punish people. First of all there is no God.
Enjoy Hell.
It sux even worse to be a New Yorker now.
You comment is so al qaeda ... don't worry, though, NY will be fine.
The Jets will lift their spirits.
Sux is not a word. Please learn English.
I may not know the specifics for that particular area, but there are a great deal of areas in Westchester and other parts of NY which do require you hold insurance when you live on a flood plain. FEMA is meant more for the clean up effort which insurance would not cover, and for businesses and city agencies which have lost man hours and $ as a result of not being able to be open ( like the MTA due to salt water damage in the tunnels). Very little of that money really goes out to individual home owners unless they had some extensive property which was used for other reasons or they utilize their home as a business base.
Any one foolish enough to think that all people who live in this area are mean, didnt come here long enough and probably only interacted with idiotic tourists from other areas who are rude to one another. Wishing bodily harm and tragedy on others is very Christian of you as well...whats that about turning the other cheek.
I love the tweets '@FDNY what should people do stuck on breezy point...". Think they were a bit busy dealing with idiots who didn't evacuate or turn off their power so fires didn't start to respond to your direct line of questioning via twitter.
So you know how this fire started now? Wow, thats astounding considering they haven't released that information yet! Quit spouting off if that's all you have to say.
I think his point is that Breezy Point was in Zone A, a mandatory evacuation zone. If you are told to leave your home and make the choice to stay you must deal with the consequences and really, why send tweets to FDNY. Do you really think there's someone in the Emergency Command Center monitoring tweets? Probably not.
Wisco, you are bullying when you have nothing to add, just being mean spirited.
When something like this happens it makes me wonder if everything else that normally makes news headlines took a stand still, a pause if you will, until its over.
Yeah, Midnightridr, everyone's polishing their guns, politicians are reading their notes, and teens are tweeting instead of shooting up their schools.
I think the people who chose not to evacuate when they were ordered to do so should have to pay for their evacuations after the fact, instead of it being paid for by taxpayers' money!
Nobody was ordered to evacuate until it was too late to do so, have some sympathy, these are real human beings who are suffering terrible losses and tragedies. My goodness, some of you people are dispicable (I'll use the term "people" loosely here, since you don't have a sould if all you can say is "I told you so" to those who are suffering). Be thankful you didnt lose your entire life in this storm like others have.
Wisco418, I live in NY state and many, many of these people were indeed under a mandatory evacuation notice in plenty of time to get out. Read the article; it even says so, had you chosen to read it.
And if you'd read my comment, I limited my statement to the people who chose to ignore evacuation order, not people who who may have been caught unawares (which, realistically, couldn't have been anyone except those not on the grid).
Even before the storm hit NBC was publishing articles interviewing people who'd decided not to evacuate despite the orders. Why should taxpayers keep having to pay for their foolishness?
Wisco, you are wrong. They were in Zone A, ALL of Zone A was under a mandatory evacuation order. I live in Queens so don't tell me any different. I'm well aware of where the evacuations were since I looked myself to make sure I didn't have to evacuate.
Wisco, now you are a bully, liar and have failed reading comprehension. Please SUS.
Wren, the only problem I see with what you suggest, is how do you make it equal and fair. For instance, could you apply it equally across the board to all disasters - tornadoes and earthquakes don't give warning (or enough warning) many times, should those people be accessed in the same manner? Is it only for those who refused to leave, what about those that might not be of sound mind, or elderly that refuse to leave their homes. It is easy for me to quickly agree, it is just the headaches of implementing it that I see.
Sorry for the losses but sometimes where you reside, it can be troublesome.
Might make out better, insurancewise, because most people have fire insurance but not flood.
At 64 years old, and a Gulf Coast resident who has been exposed to numerous hurricanes/storms over my lifetime, you need to realize when Mother Nature schedules herself to be in your neighborhood, skin and bones will not stop her, evacuate, let her do what she does, come back and re-build if you like, or move on to some other natural disaster zone.
Good luck to all....
I have called both CNN and Sirius XM POTUS channel and asked if 7.5 million homes were intitially without power thus maybe 25 million people may not have housing or shelter, food, and drinkable water for SOME TIME; and a very signifiicant percentage of them may not have relatives or friends to move in with until their homes are either cleaned out and restored, IF they are still standing. Will there be time to completely rebuild before winter? How are WE going to help these people to have shelter, to be able to have food, and to make to to their jobs and/or keep their jobs during the recovery?
This IS NOT like Katrina, New Orleans population before Katrina was 500,000 and maybe 200,000 people were displaced. You can't place very many FEMA trailers on Long Island or almost none at all in Manhattan. I keep asking this question and NOT ONE of these "pundits" or CNN phone answerers had anything to say about it. Out of all the TV coverage last night, I barely heard this aspect mentioned.
And, I am a lefty, but I must mention that Chris Christie is handling his State's emergency with as much dignity and professionalism as one could imagine. His voice was hoarse from touring these areas, getting little sleep, and having to speak to all the media. I think Bloomberg is doing OK with his responsibility, and Cuomo seems to be lost in the sauce.
First, I can't imagine why posters on the vine are politicizing this (and, yes, I just did it too to push back against it!) OR bringing the wrath of their fairy tale diety into it.
Thank you for this. Some of these posters seem to forget that while we can go on with our daily lives like nothing happened, the majority of people on the East coast wont get to do that for quite some time.
True. Manh has no room for a phone booth, let alone trailers, esp since people from all over the country move there, jacking up prices so NYers have to leave. The builders then built up for the demand.
Long Island has a lot of open space but there is NIMBYism to deal with. However, LOTS of land was bought by the state and local govs, and there are a number of federal parks. I d/k how people will get their kids to their old schools-they will need a car to drive, maybe far, every morning and afternoon, but it can be done out here.
Hey-how about all the celebrities and rich folks who buy $10mil properties in the Hamtons and only use them a few times in the summer step up to the plate? They can always fly their helicopters over all us regular folks, as they do every Fri eve eastbound and Sun westbound, and keep an eye out.
Uh because those homes are most likely flooded.
movinonout,
Good information regarding the parks and open spaces. I am from the Gulf Coast and do not live there now; I just know how much hassle it was dealing withthe FEMA trailers after Katrina (on both sides of the coin) and am trying to learn what I can about plans in place to shelter, feed, and rebuild for the residents of about 9 states where the damage is the worst. There is damage all the way from N. Carolina to Ohio, Michigan and of course NJ, NY and CT.
The East Coast has my sympathy for the destruction, we have seen this level of damage and FAR WORSE where i live. But it must be said, if a person stayed despite the warnings - they are incredibly stupid. If a person did not take storm precautions with their property - they are incredibly stupid. If your stuff is ruined, it is ALL YOUR FAULT for not moving it. If your loved ones are trapped, it is your fault for not getting them out. (I feel like i am talking to my 5 year old) This is all about taking ownership of your bad decisions, learning from your mistakes, and doing much better time.
The Midwest has seen tornados, floods, blizzards, ice storms and most recently drought. Our level of destruction is equal if not greater than that of NY, NJ. I honestly do not understand why the crazy media coverage. The rest of the nation has been dealing with this kind of tragedy - at this level - many times over.
Next thing you know, the government is going to say we the taxpayers are going to have to pay their mortgages. Let us not pay for the incredibly stupid people.
My heart breaks for you. I'm SO sorry.
Only those who can afford the losses should live in high risk areas...you have a right to live there jsut not a right to expect the rest of us to subsidize your losses...no one helped pay for my home when it burned down so you can bet that I'm not interested in paying for yours when it floods...
You are exactly what's wrong with this world. Me, me, me is all you can think of right now? Shame on you, disgusting piece of garbage.
Ummm...Queens and Brooklyn are on the water - I wouldn't call people who live in these areas exactly rich. Sure a couple of streets maybe, but overall not really.
As for subsidizing losses - then don't buy insurance and none of your money will be used to pay your neighbors' claims. Easy. Of course nobody will help pay yours either when your house gets hit with a tornado, or an earthquake, or a fire, or a flood, or any other disaster that can strike absolutely anywhere at anytime. Why you had no insurance for fire I cannot understand, but that was a pretty stupid move! Do you feel proud that you didn't take steps to protect your family? Do you feel proud that you're the kind of person who doesn't care enough about his neighbors to even WANT them to have insurance which you all pay into? Is the term cooperation lost on you?
This is terrible, my thoughts are with those displaced and now homeless because of this storm. Be strong, you'll get through this soon.
Rick lots of numbers: you have a HUGE heart! I'm sure the fire department or emergency vehicles that responded to your house burning, as well as the roads they travelled on, and the training they received, were paid for individually BY YOU!
I had spent some time in Breezy many years ago. I was treated well and I am distressed that these nice people suffered this devistating fire.
You say everything got wet so everything is ruined, I have been through 3 floods and you can save alot. First wash all the pictures and dry them. All the hard wood furnature can be cleaned and refinished, and the vidieo tapes sent out and cleaned and restored. Save what you can and replace what you can not. You have to clean the pictures before they dry out or they might be stuck together. Good luck.
I hope everyone in the area knew to evacuate and take their most cherished belongings with them living on a coastline during a hurricane is a lose lose situation.Insurance cannot replace everything. always have a plan set in place for these type of things. houses can be re- built,Loved ones can't be replaced.
The wind caused most of the fire by pushing it into the homes that were so close together no amount of water can stop this effect until the winds died down.The sea rose with the hurricane when the shoreline is 25ft above the waterline and the hurricane made waves of 50ft even sand bags were no match.
Not trying to play Monday morning quarterback, but those who opt to ride out a storm against the advise of people in the know, put themselves and others in harms way. Property is property. Lives are only given once.
Forgive - It's a legit point. You're not saying you are happy that these people went through hell, none of us are. But just because they suffered doesn't make their decision any less stupid.
Whether they stayed or they left - they still lost everything.
No flood insurance. But fire is another deal altogether. Thing about a hurricane is you have a lot of time to plan for it.
As the networks were interviewing those who had chosen to ride out the storm I remember thinking to myself, "What part of 'mandatory evacuation' are you failing to understand." On every map I saw, this area was highlighted as one that was almost certainly going to be hardest hit. The mayor of New York said that those who chose to ignore the evacuation order were not only endangering themselves but also the first responders that would have to save them should things become as bad as expected.
This is America - when experts warn of something, obviously they are wrong and everyone with common sense should do or believe the exact opposite.
We are collecting money for the rebuilding of the police and
firemen's houses. Is there a fund already? Where do we send
the money? Pls advise: tburke2006@clear.net.
If you don't have flood insurance, light your house on fire when a flood is on the way.