by Christine Dayao
On a recent Saturday six months after Hurricane Sandy devastated Long Beach, signs of normalcy were everywhere. Cars whizzed by on busy Park Avenue, people were out walking their dogs and greeting neighbors.
A closer inspection, however, revealed a damaged community still very much struggling to rebuild after disaster struck.
The sounds of electric saws and hammers filled the air. Oversized storage lockers and pods sat curbside among vehicles. Trailers were parked in the driveway of some homes while the house was being renovated. Signs in storefronts on West Beech Street proclaimed “We’re Open,” while businesses directly across from them had hung “For Rent” signs in the window.
“The one thing that really shows in Long Beach is everyone’s resilience and the community aspect,” said Gina Bannon, a mother of two who has lived in the area for over a decade.
It was clear to everyone in this beloved beachside community that returning to pre-Sandy life wouldn’t take days, but perhaps months and years of effort. Now this “City by the Sea” is preparing to face its first summer after the storm. Summers here thrive on the business of tourists, many of whom rent homes when visiting this idyllic seaside escape’s beach and boardwalk, which was badly damaged in the storm.
Many people move to Long Beach, which is just a short train ride away from Manhattan, because of how close it is to the beach and boardwalk. Bannon said that she misses the boardwalk, which is popular among the locals for bicycling and jogging no matter the season. Like most here, Bannon is optimistic that the 2.2-mile stretch of boardwalk will return to its former glory.
On April 27, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in honor of the construction of a new boardwalk. To prepare for the new structure, the remnants of the previous boardwalk were stripped down to only the supporting pillars. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer joined local officials and about 1,000 people to celebrate the milestone. The $44 million project is expected to be finished by late October to early November.
Bannon said that without the boardwalk, some merchants will have food trucks near the beach for hungry visitors to get snacks. The addition of food trucks in a municipal parking lot at the end of Shore Road and Riverside Boulevard will be on a trial basis for this summer.
“People are going to be making money and hopefully get back on their feet soon,” she said.
Reopened Businesses Breathe Life Back into Long Beach
View Reopened Businesses Breathe Life Back into Long Beach in a larger map
While Bannon is staying positive about the future of Long Beach’s tourism, she is also realistic about the current situation.
“I don’t think we’re going to see seasonal rentals happen. A lot of the homes are still destroyed,” she said.
Among the hardest hit areas of Long Beach was the West End, where the streets are narrow and the houses are in close proximity to each other. Sand remains plastered to some driveways—a reminder of how the ocean washed over the beach, cascading down streets and into homes.
This part of the city is filled with bungalows that are popular among seasonal renters but a substantial amount of houses damaged by the storm means that there is less real estate to rent to those descending on the city in a matter of weeks. Contractors and their crews—with their Porta Potties sitting outside the houses—work around the clock to restore the structures in time for June.
Bannon got the ball rolling and hired her own contractor to repair her finished basement, which was damaged during the storm when floodwaters overtook her centrally-located neighborhood. Her family also lost a car in the wake of the storm and like many other residents, they went for weeks without heat and running water.
The family of four chose to hunker down and ride out the hurricane at home.
“I don’t regret doing it. I couldn’t leave,” she said, shaking her head.
Now with summer on the horizon, she has had her front yard’s landscaping completely overhauled, bringing some cheeriness to an otherwise dreary situation.
Whereas Bannon is making progress in terms of recovery, there are other residents who are not quite there yet.
“There are still a lot of people that are displaced and affected by it. It’s going to be a long road ahead,” she said.
It has been a long journey for Ashlee Ruggero, a nurse and three-year resident of Long Beach. The storm flooded her apartment building, making it unfit to live in. For over a month and a half after Sandy struck, Ruggero stayed with family and friends.
It wasn’t until the middle of December when she was able to get to a FEMA-funded hotel. She checked out of the hotel in late March when her building was given the all-clear; the bill, which she didn’t have to pay, cost more than $7,000. However, when Ruggero was set to move back into her studio apartment, she faced a setback: the building didn’t have electricity.
“How can I move back in if there aren’t any lights? It doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
After almost another two weeks of staying with family, she was finally able to return home in the middle of April, though things in the building were different.
“There aren’t a lot of people back on my floor. I don’t even recognize the ones I have seen,” she said. “People are hesitating to move back in.”
What some Long Beach residents aren’t hesitating to do is volunteer. Hundreds of people in the community have come together to get the city back to its pre-Sandy life. Bannon said that it started in the days and weeks after the hurricane hit, with a Thanksgiving dinner at the city’s recreation center. It provided hot meals to those who needed it and a place where everyone could gather for support.
April’s Earth Day weekend played host to the “Comeback Crew,” a volunteer initiative that focused on beautification projects throughout the “City by the Sea.” Those who participated helped with the landscaping and planting in community gardens, as well as street cleanup. It is said to be the first of many official volunteer projects.
“Long Beach is amazing. People just want to do good for each other and they want the city to get cleaned up and flourish and get back to the way it was before Sandy,” said Jennifer Aly, who took part in the event.