 Crowds wait for free gas on Saturday, November 3, at the Bedford Avenue Armory in Brooklyn, New York. The U.S. East Coast is attempting to recover from the effects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Superstorm Sandy. View photos of the recovery efforts in New York.  A house sits devastated by Superstorm Sandy on Friday, November 2, in Union Beach, New Jersey. The cost of the storm's damage in the U.S. is estimated at between $30 billion and $50 billion, according to disaster modeling firm Eqecat.  A baby picture lies beneath rubble in a neighborhood devastated by the storm in Union Beach on Friday.  Flood-damaged belongings sit on the side of the road in Union Beach on Friday.  Park Choul works by flashlight in his deli in New York's East Village on Thursday, November 1. More than 3.3 million customers remained without electricity in 15 states and the District of Columbia four days after Sandy barreled ashore.  Geronimo Harrison's apartment in the East Village remains without power or water Thursday. He's using candles for light and a gas stove for heat.  Water gets pumped out of a business in the East Village on Thursday.  A roller coaster sits in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after the Fun Town pier it sat on in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.  Amusement-park rides lie mangled on the beach after the Fun Town pier in Seaside Heights was destroyed.  The arcade at the FunTown pier in Seaside Heights is in ruins. Storm damage is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars.  The inside of a gas pump is exposed at a closed station that was recently under floodwater on Thursday, November 1, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey shore, has left the state with a fuel shortage due to logistical problems and power failures.  People wait in line for fuel at a Shell Oil station onThursday in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Fuel shortages have led to long lines of cars at gasoline stations in many states.  Cars wait in line for fuel at a Gulf gas station in Fort Lee, New Jersey.  A woman leaves an Exxon gas station that was out of fuel on Thursday in North Bergen, New Jersey.  Bridget De La Torre holds her daughter Neve, 3, as daughter Paz sits nearby while they rest and charge devices on Thursday at a shelter for those affected by Superstorm Sandy at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Hoboken, New Jersey. Bridget's family has no electricity or hot water, and their car was destroyed by flooding.  Waves break in front of an amusement park destroyed by Superstorm Sandy on Wednesday, October 31, in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. At least 56 people were killed in the storm. New Jersey suffered massive damage and power outages.  People walk near the remains of burned homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Wednesday.  An overview of the fire damage in Queens, New York, following Hurricane Sandy. Residents in hard-hit areas sifted through the wreckage of Sandy on Wednesday as millions remained without power.  Buildings on the shoreline are pictured from Air Force One as it prepares to land in Atlantic City, New Jersey, carrying President Barack Obama, who visited areas hardest hit by the unprecedented storm.  President Barack Obama speaks as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looks on, as they visit a shelter for Hurricane Sandy victims in Brigantine, New Jersey.  The shadow of Air Force One is cast on the water as it prepares to land in Atlantic City on Wednesday, October 31.  Residents in the Rockaway section of Queens, New York, wait to charge their phones at a government generator. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey resumed operations on limited schedules Wednesday, and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days.  Motorists drive through standing water in Hoboken, New Jersey. Known as the Mile Square City, the low-lying neighborhoods suffered deep flooding resulting from the storm surge associated with Hurricane Sandy.  A member of Army National Guard Unit Gulf 250 from Morristown, New Jersey, evacuates victims of Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken on Wednesday, October 31.  Residents traverse flooded streets as clean up operations begin in Hoboken, New Jersey.  New Jersey Natural Gas technician Carlos Rojas inspects a leaking gas main that is under water at a home damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.  A resident looks through the remnants of his home in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York.  Flood-damaged streets are viewed in the Rockaway section of Queens, New York, where the historic boardwalk was washed away due to Hurricane Sandy.  People walk past homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.  Traders stand outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday, October 31. U.S. equity markets resumed trading Wednesday for the first time this week after Hurricane Sandy.  People board the ferry, one of the few functioning transportation systems, in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Wednesday, October 31.  Members of the State University of New York Maritime Academy aid in the relief efforts, using row boats to help victims from in Hoboken, New Jersey.  Jimmy Lee, owner of The Nail Store, begins the cleanup of his shop from damage done by Hurricane Sandy in Hoboken, New Jersey.  Blaine Badick and her fiancee Andrew Grapsas cross a flooded street with their dog while leaving their home in Hoboken.  Residents walk through the area where the boardwalk was washed away in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Wednesday.  The Rockaway boardwalk in Queens, New York, was stripped down to the piers by Superstorm Sandy.  People look at a damaged section of the Rockaway boardwalk in Queens, New York, on Wednesday.  People walk down a flooded street on Wednesday, October 31, in Hoboken, New Jersey.  A man charges his cellphone at a home that still has power in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Wednesday, October 31. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 2 million customers in New Jersey were without power.  A firefighter stands on the porch of a home destroyed by fire in Queens on Wednesday.  Customers line up to buy supplies at an Ace Hardware with a power generator in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Wednesday.  Superstorm Sandy stripped the steps from the deck of this home in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.  Superstorm Sandy left a car buried in sand in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.  A helicopter flies past damaged homes in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, on Wednesday, October 31.  A man makes his way through floodwater and debris in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, on Wednesday.  A police car patrols an empty waterfront neighborhood without power in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday.  Concrete piers are all that remain of the destroyed boardwalk in Atlantic City on Wednesday.  Debris from damaged property and the remains of a boardwalk litter the shoreline in Atlantic City on Wednesday.  Waterfront property in Atlantic City lays in tatters on Wednesday. Transportation in the state was crippled by floodwaters, as well.  "We are in a state of crisis all across this state," Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker told CNN on Wednesday. "It's going to be a challenging time."  A police car patrols an empty waterfront neighborhood that lost power at dawn in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday.  People wait for buses along New York's Sixth Avenue on Wednesday.  Superstorm Sandy stripped New York's historic Rockaway boardwalk down to its foundation.  A woman examines damage to the Rockaway neighborhood in New York on Wednesday.  Commuters ride a NY Waterway ferry from Jersey City, New Jersey, on Wednesday, the first day of operation since the storm hit.  A man rides on the front of a forklift while recording flood damage for insurance purposes in Little Ferry, New Jersey, on Wednesday.  Con Edison employee John Shammah pauses while working on a steam pipe on First Avenue in New York City on Wednesday.  CNN iReporter Jordan Shapiro captured this view of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30. Half of the bridge and Brooklyn is lit, while the Manhattan side and the surrounding part of the island remain shrouded in darkness.  Dog owners in Alexandria, Virginia, gathered to see the flood waters left by Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday.  Taxis sit in a flooded lot Tuesday in Hoboken, New Jersey.  People take pictures of a flooded street Tuesday in Hoboken.  A man stands near a homemade road block on Tuesday in Little Ferry, New Jersey.  People wait in line to fill containers with gas at a Shell station in Edison, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Superstorm Sandy left much of Bergen County flooded and without power.  Aerial images from the U.S. Coast Guard show the coastline in Brigantine, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Sandy struck land near Atlantic City, New Jersey, around high tide Monday night.  Homes and other buildings in Brigantine were destroyed in Sandy's wake. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie described the devastation in the state as "unthinkable."  Brigantine saw extensive damage from high winds and flooding.  Homes are flooded Tuesday in Tuckerton, New Jersey. President Barack Obama signed major disaster declarations for New Jersey and New York, clearing the way for federal aid.  A resident walks down a street covered in beach sand due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy in Long Beach, New York on Tuesday.  Firefighters work to extinguish flames in a home in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens on Tuesday. The massive fire broke out during the storm and destroyed at least 80 homes  Ted Wondsel, owner of Ted's Fishing Station in Long Beach, assesses the damage to his business Tuesday.  People wait outside a shelter at the Bergen County Technical Schools Teterboro Campus on Tuesday in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.  Utility workers from Delmarva Power replace a power pole that was damaged during Hurricane Sandy in Ocean City, Maryland, on Tuesday.  Dale Kelly sits on a bench Tuesday on a flooded street in Ocean City, New Jersey, which was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy.  Ted Wondsel, left, of Point Lookout works on part of a dock destroyed in the storm in Long Beach on Tuesday.  West Broadway in Long Beach is covered in beach sand due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday.  Residents walk along a street covered in beach sand after floodwaters from Superstorm Sandy retreated Tuesday in Long Beach.  A small plane damaged in the storm sits on a runway in Farmingdale, New York, on Tuesday.  Streets remain flooded in portions of Ocean City, New Jersey.  Utility workers repair a traffic signal damaged by the storm in Ocean City, New Jersey, on Tuesday.  A Virgin Mary statue stands in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Tuesday after a fire fed by high winds destroyed at least 80 homes, officials said.  President Barack Obama outlines the federal government's response to Superstorm Sandy at the Red Cross headquarters in Washington.  Firefighters work to contain the fire in Queens on Tuesday. Some 200 firefighters battled the six-alarm blaze.  A man surveys damage to sailboats Tuesday at a marina on City Island in New York.  "My message to the federal government: no bureaucracy, no red tape, get resources where they're needed as fast as possible, as hard as possible, and for the duration," Obama said in Washington Tuesday. Both Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney canceled campaign events.  People stand on a mound of construction dirt on Tuesday to view a section of the uptown boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that was destroyed by flooding.  A firefighter looks through debris in Queens on Tuesday. In September, the same area endured severe weather as a powerful cold front brought heavy rain, high winds and a tornado.  A malfunctioning generator billows black smoke at a building in New York on Tuesday.  Mitt Romney helps gather donated goods for storm relief Tuesday in Kettering, Ohio.  Emergency personnel help a resident of Little Ferry, New Jersey, onto a boat after rescuing her from floodwater on Tuesday.  Dean Walter, left. and Henry Young walk along a seawall in Scituate, Massachusetts, with their surfboards after going into the heavy surf for about 20 minutes on Tuesday.  Superstorm Sandy left New York's South Street Seaport flooded and covered in debris on Tuesday.  Passers-by look at a car that was crushed by a tree near New York's financial district on Tuesday.  Pedestrians and bikers cross the Brooklyn Bridge after the storm on Tuesday.  People stand among the debris of the destroyed section of Atlantic City, New Jersey's, uptown boardwalk on Tuesday.  Sailboats rest on the ground after being tipped over by Superstorm Sandy on City Island, New York, on Tuesday.  Onlookers watch a dangling crane, damaged in the winds of Superstorm Sandy, atop a luxury high-rise under construction in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday.  An onlooker snaps a photo of the damaged crane on Tuesday.  Jolito Ortiz helps clean up a friend's apartment on New York's lower east side on Tuesday.  A tidal surge created by Sandy flooded the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York on Tuesday.  A worker cuts down a tree near American University in Washington on Tuesday.  A home badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy sits along the shoreline in Milford, Connecticut, on Tuesday.  An emergency worker carries a resident through floodwaters in Little Ferry, New Jersey, on Tuesday.  Police walk past debris left by the storm at Battery Park in New York on Tuesday.  Floodwater splashes into the window of a building on the shore in Bellport, New York, on Tuesday.  Rescue workers use a hovercraft to rescue a resident using a wheelchair from floodwaters in Little Ferry, New Jersey, on Tuesday.  A resident of Little Ferry, New Jersey, assists in rescue efforts with his personal watercraft on Tuesday.  The HMS Bounty, a 180-foot sailboat, is submerged in the Atlantic Ocean about 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina, on Monday, October 29.  A man walks through the debris of a 2,000-foot section of Atlantic City, New Jersey's "uptown" boardwalk on Tuesday. It was destroyed by flooding from Sandy.  Downed trees are removed near the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington on Tuesday.  Heavy surf buckles Ocean Avenue in Avalon, New Jersey, on Tuesday.  Sam Rigby walks on Tuesday near an uprooted tree that grazed his house and hit his neighbor's house in Washington.  A photographer shoots waves in Lake Michigan generated by the remnants of Sandy as they crash into the Chicago shoreline on Tuesday.  A police officer helps remove a tree branch brought down during the storm in Washington on Tuesday.  A man takes pictures of cars from the steps of a home on a flooded street at Hoboken in New Jersey, on Tuesday.  A woman wades through water at the South Street Seaport in New York City on Tuesday.  A street light and utility pole lie on the street in Avalon, New Jersey, on Tuesday.  Atlantic City, New Jersey, resident Kim Johnson inspects the area around her flooded apartment building on Tuesday.  A power line knocked over by a falling tree blocks a street in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on Tuesday.  Workers shovel debris from the streets in Ocean City, Maryland, on Tuesday.  A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flies over Central Park in New York on Tuesday.  A man jogs near a darkened Manhattan skyline on Tuesday after much of New York City lost electricity.  Workers clear a tree blocking East 96th Street in Central Park in New York on Tuesday. View more photos of the recovery efforts in New York.                                                                                                                          
(CNN) -- Luz Martinez sat next to her baby, who was swaddled tight in pink, blue and white cloth inside an incubator. Born at 26 weeks with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, Emma Sophia weighed less than 2 pounds and breathed with the help of a respirator. Every day since her baby's birth, Martinez had visited the neonatal intensive care unit at New York University's Langone Medical Center. A good day was measured by the tiniest progress: Emma drinking a couple of extra drops of milk, her eyes opening just long enough for mom and daughter to connect. Still recovering from an emergency cesarean section, Martinez couldn't drive. For 22 days, she had bummed rides to the hospital with relatives and friends. It was Sunday, October 28.   Sandy victims' family: 'The pain is raw'  Malliotakis: Staten Island really hurting  Wrenching stories of death from Sandy  A look at some of Sandy's victims Martinez, 42, had heard about Hurricane Sandy while shuttling from her home on Roosevelt Island to be with Emma. But she met news of the impending storm with the grittiness of a lifelong New Yorker: Humbug. She was focused on one thing: Emma's health. On that Sunday, Hurricane Sandy chugged northeastward off the North Carolina coast with winds stretching 175 miles from its eye. The Carolinas, Virginia and Maryland were already getting pelted by rain and whipped by wind. Forecasters warned the storm would collide with a cold front from the west to create a superstorm that would slam the Eastern Seaboard by late Monday. Mass evacuations were ordered up and down the coast, from the Carolinas to Connecticut. The storm had already killed 67 people in the Caribbean. Claudene Christian could feel the storm's wrath. At sea about 90 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, aboard the three-masted 180-foot HMS Bounty, Christian and a crew of 14 others tried to help their captain outmaneuver the storm. At 42, she had been looking for an adventure and signed on with the Bounty in May. "Sailing the seas for these past several months has definitely agreed with me," she wrote on her Facebook page in August. But now, 20-foot waves and rattling winds raged against the 50-year-old wooden vessel. Hurricane shipwreck victim inspired by mutineer About 500 miles north, in a waterfront neighborhood in Queens, residents had come to expect the unpredictability of Mother Nature. The place was called Breezy Point, after all. Its inhabitants knew the gentle winds and pleasant sound of lapping surf. They also knew the power of Hurricane Irene from a year ago. Tom Duffy, 47, had evacuated his Breezy Point home when Irene approached. The beach bungalow, built in 1928, sustained minor flooding then -- nothing too bad. Seeing the warnings on Sandy, Duffy wasn't taking any chances. "Better to be safe than sorry," he thought. Duffy rallied his family to the task of evacuating the neighborhood where he had lived since he was 12. He and his wife, Deidre, and two daughters, Corinne and Louise, 23 and 20, planned to hunker down in a Manhattan hotel. The Duffys left Breezy Point midafternoon on Sunday with three changes of clothes. Soon, Luz Martinez would end her visit with Emma in the hospital just a block from the East River. The storm was the last thing on her mind. Interactive: Superstorm Sandy's victims Destruction in all forms It broke records, and it broke hearts. More than 8 million people lost power, the result of wind, flooding and heavy snow. New York City's intricate subway system suffered the most extensive damage in its 108-year history. The New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days, the first time that had happened because of weather since 1888. The surf in New York Harbor reached a record 32.5 feet -- 6.5 feet taller than a wave spawned by Hurricane Irene. A record high water level also was set at Battery Park in Manhattan, where the surge peaked at 13.88 feet. Damage estimates put the cost of the storm around $50 billion, the second costliest storm in history, behind Hurricane Katrina. At least 23 states felt the effects of Sandy, which morphed from a hurricane into a wintry superstorm stretching nearly 600 miles. Sandy was so big, forecasters said, that if it had been a country it would have ranked as the 20th-largest in the world. It killed at least 106 people in the United States. The destruction came in all forms: Wind, water, snow and fire. The sailor's risk The Bounty had set sail on Thursday, October 25, from New London, Connecticut, as Hurricane Sandy pummeled Cuba. The ship was en route to its winter berth in St. Petersburg, Florida, determined to outsail Sandy. Claudene Christian's interest in the Bounty began after she toured a replica of Christopher Columbus' ship Nina last year, her family said. She wasn't a sailor by trade, but she had a personal connection to the original Bounty's mutineer. A former Miss Teen Alaska, Christian often boasted of being a descendant of Fletcher Christian, the 18th-century sailor who led the infamous mutiny on the real HMS Bounty. "I'm sure my ancestor would be proud," she wrote on her Facebook page. "However, this time there will be no mutiny on this Bounty -- at least not at the hands of me, a new generation of Christian Family Sailors!" Built for "Mutiny on the Bounty," the 1962 film starring Marlon Brando, the famed ship also had been used in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films. More recently, it sailed from various ports serving as a museum to tourists. At the helm was Capt. Robin Waldridge, a veteran of the high seas who had commanded the ship for more than 20 years. He predicted the Bounty and Sandy would pass each other late Sunday or early Monday on different paths. "Bounty's current voyage is a calculated decision ... NOT AT ALL ... irresponsible or with a lack of foresight as some have suggested," a message posted on the ship's Facebook page said at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 27. "The fact of the matter is ... A SHIP IS SAFER AT SEA THAN IN PORT!" The ship bobbed in the sea, churned by the hurricane. By late Sunday, October 28, Sandy was winning the man vs. nature bout. The Bounty lost power and began taking on water. At 2:53 a.m. Monday, a desperate message was posted on the ship's Facebook page: "Your Prayers are needed." New York after Sandy: A tale of two cities Separation anxiety Luz Martinez couldn't find a ride to the hospital on Monday morning. Winds were picking up on the streets of New York. None of her relatives wanted to risk the journey. A Section 8 case manager for the city, Martinez had not worked since September 21, the day she was first admitted to the hospital because of vaginal bleeding. She had been bedridden until Emma's birth on October 6 at 12:01 a.m. Memories of that day were never far from her mind. She'd endured a C-section and the trauma of witnessing her baby struggle for life, the umbilical cord wrapped three times around Emma's neck. Martinez didn't want to miss a day by her baby's side. But, as the storm approached the city, she had no choice. She stayed in touch by phone with the nurses. They reassured her: "Everything is going smooth." Tom Duffy and his family were experiencing a different kind of separation -- from the home that provided a lifetime of memories. The bungalow on Breezy Point was the only place the Duffy girls had ever lived. Tom had grown up in Breezy Point. His parents first bought a house there in 1969. It was a quaint community -- close enough to the city but far enough away to relax. Tom and Deidre bought their home on Ocean Avenue in 1989; it was a perfect spot to raise their budding family. Their first daughter had just been born. As Sandy's outer bands lashed New York, the Duffys fixated on the storm reports on TV. Both Tom and Deidre were structural engineers, but they didn't need an advanced degree to know that their home would sustain water and wind damage. Swept into the sea In the early hours Monday, a high seas rescue was in motion. A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft, then a helicopter, braved the elements to locate the Bounty, about 90 miles off the North Carolina coast. Radio contact had been lost. The captain had ordered that the ship be abandoned. Its crew members, wearing orange survival suits with strobe lights -- intended to keep them afloat, warm and visible at sea -- attempted to board two lifeboats. A giant wave swept three into the sea, including the captain. One crew member was able to climb back into the lifeboat. The Coast Guard rescued 14. They recovered the body of another: Claudene Christian. The captain has not been found. Christian was the first U.S. fatality of the storm. She died living out her dream. Victims fall to superstorm's wrath Unable to sleep Monday night, Sandy hammered the East Coast, especially Staten Island and the Jersey Shore. Giant waves swamped homes, apartments and buildings. Power lines fell. Subway tunnels in New York filled with rushing water. All bridges to the city were closed. At 7:45 p.m., 10 feet of water inundated the NYU medical center in Manhattan. Luz Martinez was watching the news when Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the hospital was being evacuated. Her heart pounded. Then, the power went out in the apartment. Martinez got on her cell phone. She spoke with a nurse who said Emma would be moved a few blocks away to Mount Sinai Medical Center. She was on the priority list, to be transported first. Nurses would use hand pumps as respirators as they carried Emma and other babies in critical condition down several flights of stairs in the dark. An hour and a half would pass before Martinez heard back. Emma was safe and stable at Mount Sinai. Martinez paced her apartment, unable to sleep. Katrina, Joplin survivors offer advice to Sandy victims Deidre Duffy woke her husband at 3 a.m. Tuesday, October 30. He was prepared for damage from wind and rain. Not for what his wife was about to tell him. "Breezy Point," she said, "is on fire." As floodwaters smashed into the neighborhood, transformers blew and power lines snapped. Fanned by high winds, the flames engulfed the wooden homes like kindling. At first, authorities reported 40 homes were gone. But with daybreak came the news that more than 100 had burned to the ground. It would mark one of the worst residential fires in New York City history. On Tuesday, the Duffys made their way to 164 Ocean Avenue. Their home was in ashes. Tom Duffy isn't sure yet if the family will rebuild, but he is certain of one thing about Breezy Point: "It will never be the same." Sandy changes lives forever -- here are three of their stories  Baby Emma moved during storm Reuniting with Emma Luz Martinez's sister is a New York cop. Tuesday morning, she knew which streets and bridges were open. She sent her boyfriend to fetch Luz on Roosevelt Island and take her to Emma's side. The ride, usually 40 minutes, took 20. No one was on the road. At Mount Sinai, Martinez found Emma in the neonatal unit. "She gave me so much peace of mind, just looking at her, sleeping like nothing had happened. She wasn't aware of what was going on." The hospital's CEO, Kenneth Davis, was making the rounds. He was the one who had agreed to take Emma and other NYU patients into his hospital. He walked into the room, arms outstretched. "You need a hug," he said. Martinez began crying and thanked him. Emma was less than a month old and yet she'd already been through so much. Her mother has given her a nickname. Warrior. CNN's Gabriel Falcon, Thom Patterson and Sanjay Gupta contributed to this report.   |
11/04/2012
Sandy broke records -- and hearts
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment