The Long Recovery After Franken Sandy

 

The Long Recovery After Franken Sandy Sixteen days after the landfall of superstorm Sandy, much recovery work remains to be done. After Katrina in 2005, Sandy is the costliest hurricane to ever hit the United States, and New York and New Jersey have suffered most of the estimated $50 billion in damages. Most who lost power have had it restored by now, but many still remain without electricity or heat. Thousands of residents are still unable to return to their homes, and a lack of temporary shelter is making problems worse. More than two weeks after disaster struck, the long journey to full recovery has only just started.   A tattered flag flies at sunset on a pole in front of a home damaged by hurricane Sandy in the Brooklyn borough neighborhood of Seagate, on November 13, 2012. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) 2 Streets damaged during Hurricane Sandy, in Ortley Beach, New Jersey, on November 10, 2012. (Reuters/Tim Larsen/Governor's Office) # 3 Volunteers knock on doors at the Sand Castle houses to provide food and supplies to residents who continue to live without power in the Far Rockaways section of Queens, on November 10, 2012. Despite power returning to many neighborhoods in the metropolitan area, residents of the Far Rockaways continue to live without power and heat due to damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) # 4 Muddy handprints mark the front door of a home that was heavily damaged by Sandy, on November 13, 2012 in New York City. More than two weeks after the devastating storm, Staten Island continues to recover. (John Moore/Getty Images) # 5 MTA employees work around the clock to remove seawater out of the L train's tunnel under the East River in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, in New York, on November 5, 2012. Trains started running through the L train tunnel linking Brooklyn and Manhattan on November 8, 2012. (Reuters/Metropolitan Transportation Authority/Patrick Cashin) # 6 Examples of the damage sustained by the South Ferry station on the New York City Subway's 1 Line. The station was flooded during Hurricane Sandy. These are a water-logged, damaged escalator and stairwell leading to the platform. (MTA New York City Transit/David Henly) # 7 In this aerial photograph, restoration work continues in Mantoloking, New Jersey, Friday, November 9, 2012, after the region was pounded by Sandy. Monday's storm surge from Sandy cut a path through the town from the Atlantic Ocean to the bayside. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) # 8 A stuffed bear mashed into the sand near a boardwalk damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, on November 11, 2012. (Reuters/Eric Thayer) # 9 A New York Police Department van drives along a street soaked with rain and covered with debris in a Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, New York,on November 7, 2012, as a nor'easter aggravated already bad conditions in the wake of Sandy. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) # 10 A woman carries her dog while walking through charred homes in Breezy Point which were left devastated by Hurricane Sandy in Queens, on November 12, 2012. (Reuters/Adrees Latif) # 11 The bottom half of a mannequin lies on 8th Avenue in Belmar, New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. (Reuters/Tom Mihalek) # 12 Volunteers shovel sand and water out of the basement of Monir Islam's home in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens, on November 11, 2012. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 13 A National Guard convoy in Coney Island, assisting Hurricane Sandy survivors on November 12, 2012. (FEMA/Chris Ragazzo) # 14 A home that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Mantoloking, New Jersey, on November 12, 2012. (Reuters/Eric Thayer) # 15 Residents walk past a destroyed section of the boardwalk at the base of Lincoln Boulevard as Long Islanders continue their clean up efforts in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in Long Beach, New York, on November 9, 2012. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said that the economic loss and damage to homes and business caused by Sandy could total $33 billion in New York, according to published reports. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) # 16 Rick Foite, a lineman with Harlan Electrical Construction from Buffalo, New York, repairs power lines that were brought down from the effects of Superstorm Sandy in Sea Cliff, New York, on November 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) # 17 Glenda Moore (top center) watches as New York sanitation department workers carry a casket containing the bodies of her two sons after their funeral at the St. Rose of Lima Catholic church in Brooklyn, on November 9, 2012. Brandon Moore, 2, and his brother Connor Moore, 4, were swept away from the arms of their mother Glenda as she fled with them from Superstorm Sandy floodwaters in New York's Staten Island borough, while seeking safety with family in Brooklyn the night of the storm. She is married to New York sanitation worker Damian Moore, and dozens of workers and officials from the sanitation department attended the funeral ceremony. (John Moore/Getty Images) # 18 Extensive damage to the boardwalk in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, on November 13, 2012. (Reuters/Tom Mihalek) # 19 A repair worker is silhouetted by a police spotlight as he walks down a darkened street during a nor'easter snowstorm in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, on November 7, 2012. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) # 20 Volunteers and those seeking assistance stand outside a YANA (You are Never Alone) outreach center, currently housing Occupy Sandy, a volunteer aid organization in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens, on November 8, 2012. Along with other groups, Occupy Sandy has sprung up in an effort to bring goods and services to people left in need in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) # 21 Karilyn Taylor walks up 11 flights of steps with only her flashlight to guide her in the Red Hook Houses in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York, on November 12, 2012. Some of the buildings in the complex are still without power and heat from Superstorm Sandy two weeks ago. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) # 22 Young Jahzier Barksdale is lit by a video game as he plays in the Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, on November 9, 2012. Residents were entering into a second week without heat or electricity. (Reuters/Keith Bedford) # 23 Community pet rescuer Kim Ruiz stands among the cats, five of whom were rescued during Superstorm Sandy, and dogs she currently houses in her unheated apartment without electricity in the Ocean Bay public housing projects in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, on November 9, 2012. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) # 24 A huge pile of debris stacked up in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, on November 12, 2012. Clean-up continues two weeks after the region was pounded by Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) # 25 People stand on the remains of the infrastructure of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk, which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy on October 29, in the Rockaway Beach neighborhood of Queens, on November 10, 2012. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 26 A gas line forms for free fuel from a tanker in the Far Rockaways section of Queens, on November 10, 2012. Despite power returning to many neighborhoods in the metropolitan area, residents of the Far Rockaways continue to live without power and heat due to damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) # 27 Arlene D'Amico, of Edison, New Jersey, tears up ruined flooring in her small summer house in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, on November 12, 2012. Residents of Seaside Heights were allowed back in their homes for a few hours Monday, two weeks after the region was pounded by Sandy. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) # 28 An insurance claims adjuster climbs the entrance to a house in the Breezy Point neighborhood which was left devastated by Hurricane Sandy in Queens, on November 12, 2012. (Reuters/Adrees Latif) # 29 A boy rides his bike in front of a boat that became lodged on shore by the storm surge of Hurricane Sandy in the Annadale neighborhood of Staten Island, on November 12, 2012. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) # 30 An amusement park that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy is seen in Seaside Heights, New Jersey November 11, 2012. (Reuters/Eric Thayer) # 31 U.S. Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit and sailors assigned to the USS Wasp (LHD 1), walk to a landing craft after assisting residents in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, at Rockaway Beach, New York, on November 9, 2012. (Reuters/USMC/Cpl. Kyle N. Runnels) # 32 Mike Duvalle points out a high water line as he stands in the lower level of his home in the Rockaway Beach neighborhood of Queens, on November 7, 2012. Duvalle was working to secure the property and close up openings to the building left in the wake of Sandy, as a powerful nor'easter approached. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) # 33 Comic books, scattered in front of a home that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Mantoloking, New Jersey, on November 12, 2012. (Reuters/Eric Thayer) # 34 A car sits next to the ruins of a home that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in Union Beach, New Jersey, on November 13, 2012. (Reuters/Eric Thayer) # 35 Cabinet maker Rick Churchill does a little work by window light at his business in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York, on November 12, 2012. Churchill's studio has been without power since Sandy and much his work depends on machines that need electricity. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) # 36 Ariel Nadelberg of Brooklyn pours hot soup in a cup at a parking lot that has become a makeshift station where those in need can get food and clothing in a Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, on November 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) # 37 Messages are written on a house condemned after flooding from Hurricane Sandy in the Midland beach neighborhood of Staten Island, on November 13, 2012. (Reuters/Mike Segar) # 38 Mac Baker (right) sits near niece Nytaisha Baker (left), next to pots of water she heats on the floor with small flames for a bit of warmth in her unheated apartment without electricity in the Ocean Bay public housing projects in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, on November 9, 2012. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) # 39 Edna Perez cries while explaining what the living conditions have been in her home in Bay Towers since Hurricane Sandy hit, in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens, on November 11, 2012. She has been without power since the storm hit. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 40 Thousands of food and clothing items are organized by Occupy Sandy volunteers in the school gymnasium at the St. Camillus Roman Catholic Church in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens, on November 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) # 41 Twelve days after Halloween, children participate in the annual Ragamuffin Halloween Parade, which was postponed by Hurricane Sandy, in Hoboken, New Jersey, on November 12, 2012. (Reuters/Gary Hershorn) # 42 A home that was damaged by Hurricane Sandy stands in water in Mantoloking, New Jersey, on November 12, 2012. (Reuters/Eric Thayer) # 43 Alex Vila, 2, carries a box of cereal after visiting an aid station for people affected by Hurricane Sandy in Brooklyn, on November 8, 2012. Household supplies and groceries were distributed to Red Hook neighborhood residents by Catholic Charities at the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary church. (John Moore/Getty Images) # 44 Crews tackle piles of debris as clean-up continues where a large section of the iconic boardwalk was washed away in the heavily damaged Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, on November 10, 2012. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) # 45 The remains of the Star Jet roller coaster, formerly part of the Casino Pier amusement park, stranded in the ocean in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, on November 11, 2012. (Reuters/Eric Thayer)