The continuing woes in Breezy Point

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    Image source: WNYC

    Two places that got hit particularly hard during Hurricane Sandy were LIC and the Rockaways. Breezy Point was particularly hard hit (it is located on the west side of the Rockaway peninsula, and the western tip is known for its excellent birdwatching oportunities) with water and wind and fires. This morning, one woman we met from Sunnyside said that her parents’ house down there was not destroyed by fire (the fire stopped about 100 feet away from the house) but that the house was moved off its foundation by the water and wind.

    It’s a heartbreaking scene down there. 111 homes burned to the ground, according to CBS. This image below is incredible – click to enlarge.

    This aerial photo shows burned-out homes in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough New York after a fire on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. 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. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

    This is raw, unprocessed video footage of the fire:

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6x75kmc–U]

    As we mentioned earlier, US Representative Bob Turner (he succeeded Anthony Weiner after his scandal) told us that he is safe after his house burned down in Breezy Point. This small enclave community is known for passing homes down through generations and is a very tight knit group. Breezy Point is also the location where the tornado touched down early last month. As a reminder of that event:

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlxLJOFqyhs]

    See some of our photos from yesterday, too, of the fire and devastation.

    burned-breezy-point-queens

    Image source: NBC

    Here’s some of the news we’re reading on Breezy Point in particular.

    Breezy Point, Queens looks forward after devastating fire following superstorm Sandy [CBS] – “Not a single building on Breezy Point, Queens, has been left unscathed – first by the storm surge that rolled in and battered the community and then by the fire that ravaged blocks and blocks of homes on the barrier island.” Here’s video.

    Breezy Point fire in Queens burns down neighborhood [ABC] – “We watched the whole place go up in flames. It was hell night. It was the devil’s night,” said resident Thomas Reicherter.

    After Blaze, Breezy Point Bands Together [WSJ] – “We saw the glow and couldn’t do a thing,” said Roxbury’s deputy fire chief, Lou Satriano. “It was a domino effect. Houses just caught and caught and caught fire.”

    Some recent Instagram photos.

    breezy-point-devastation-queens

    Image source: kateeldiablo on Instagram

    breezy-point-collage-queens

    Image source: caitlynn_kirrky on Instagram – “Breezy Point, we will rebuild and come back better. Still seems so unreal in just a matter of a day everyone’s home got destroyed, it’s just devastating how breezy now looks like a war zone.”

    Image source: miiirmaan on Instagram – “131 houses burnt to the ground, and every other one flooded. What the hell do we do now?”

    heart-breezy-point-queens

    Image source: Jenny_Fahy on Instagram – “Breezy will never be the same as we knew it. Some of us have nothing but memories left.”

    Finally, to get an idea of the size and scope of the storm, here is an image we saw on Facebook that was making the rounds. Sandy earns its name as a “superstorm” (click to enlarge).

    irene-sandy

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