Recovering from a Superstorm Named Sandy

Hello All -

I started shooting the Sunday before last as the hurricane started to hit. I photographed every day, first shooting the downed trees and powerlines in my Astoria neighborhood, then in an utterly devastated Rockaway Beach when I went there to help my friend assess her damage and touch base with friends and neighbors. Neither me or my friend who lives there was prepared for the reality that met us. If you can, please help the people of Rockaway, Long Island, Staten Island and/or the Jersey Shore (the place not the show.)

I have taken so many photos, and complete sets of each day are posted on flickr. Here are some of the better ones from Saturday and Sunday in the Rockaways. As always, thank you for looking.

Megan

The first set of photos was Saturday, and this reply has Sunday's photos from near 116th Street where FEMA, the National Guard, Red Cross, and NYC Emergency Services were set up along with several gourmet food trucks handing out food. While my friend waited to speak with a FEMA rep, I wandered off a little bit for the other shots.

Sunday in the Rockaways...

Megan.........thank you so much for posting these photos. I really appreciated viewing them, and a good reminder that things have improved....BUT!!!!!!!!!! not everywhere! It's so hard to see the people in Staten Island and other NY and NJ areas who are really suffering - and in some areas, no one has contacted them with a few exceptions a while back.......no follow up.

Liz

Some truly powerful images here, thanks. I made a donation to the red cross. After I realized exactly how many people I know who live in and around the areas affected.

God, such devastation !

how did you feel shooting this ?

A terrible and sad thing to have happened. Thanks for showing us the shots..

I can certainly relate to these photos having experiencing Hurricane Katrina and Camille plus many more since moving to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in June of 1961. You have some telling photos there but it really sinks in the amount of devastation when it is viewed first hand. Jeff

I've been following your work on Flickr megan and I'm in awe of the destruction as well as your insightful images.

Yes, definitely. There has been improvement in the Rockaways, but the people are still without power and other basics. Today there were thousands of volunteers all over the peninsula helping out. I helped my friend pack up the room she was renting, and the Man with a Van that came to help her move - a lifetime NYC resident - from the Rockaways to Astoria was flipping out. He was terrified by what he saw, and he said it exactly; it looks like a war zone. It's hard to even imagine after looking at photos. I can only imagine that it's the same (like a war zone) on the Jersey Shore, Staten Island, Coney Island, etc.

Thank you, that is great! And by the way, I saw a few Toronto Hydro trucks in my neighborhood helping get power lines disentangled from trees and repaired.

I had mixed feelings. I felt more than a little guilty - but my friend who lives there encouraged me, saying that it needs to be documented.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by megan

I had mixed feelings. I felt more than a little guilty - but my friend who lives there encouraged me, saying that it needs to be documented.

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Your friend is right on! I can relate to your feeling as I had a similar experience when a couple of policemen (my secretary's fiance' for one) took me up to the World Trade Center site about a month after 9/11. It was overwhelming emotionally.....And I know, Megan, that you were right in the midst of that terrible tragedy and had to look at it every day.....

Let me just say that when I see the photos of some of the areas of devastation that Sandy left, including the videos of the live news on the TV, I am grateful that these photographers and news people have the courage to go into the areas and share it with us. I believe we need to know what is happening all around us - plus the fact that seeing the photos/videos, it inspires people to do what they can to help.

I was so happy yesterday to see that many people, including a lot of high school and college students took it upon themselves to give up their Saturday to go down and do a LOT of work for many of these people!

So....thanks Megan!

Liz