Superstorm Sandy saw neighbor helping neighbor

2012 TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY Sandy brought out the best in people

Communities came together in wake of devastating storm

by Anthony O’Reilly Chronicle Contributor

It’s hard for people who lived through Superstorm Sandy not to remember the post-apocalyptic scenes witnessed throughout South Queens and the Rockaway peninsula on Oct. 29, 2012.

Homes in Hamilton Beach were left under 10 feet of water; the National Guard was directing people on both sides of Howard Beach to relief centers; and those in Breezy Point returned to piles of ashes where their living rooms once stood.

Of course, the painful memories are brought up in politicians’ press releases — and at an annual vigil held at the West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department — every year, but they’re not the main focus. Instead, they choose to remember the acts of kindness that helped them get back on their feet in the days, weeks and months after the historic storm.

“When things looked their bleakest, we all came together the way a true community does and helped each other rebuild through that extremely difficult time,” state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) said in a prepared statement, reflecting on the eight-year anniversary of the storm that left much of his district unrecognizable.

In a social media post, Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) echoed those sentiments, saying, “I’ll never forget the damage and destruction I witnessed that night and the morning after. But I also remember acts of heroism, charity & neighbors helping neighbors. Slowly but surely we rebuilt and came out stronger than ever.”

The help poured in from nearly every direction — from those just a few miles down the road to residents of Chicago who made an hours-long trek just to cook up some hot meals for those who had been impacted.

Some helped with the biggest tasks. The Retail, Wholesalers and Department Store Union — in conjunction with the Hunter College School of Occupational Safety — brought dozens of volunteers to the Rockaway Peninsula to clear out mold-infested drywall and other materials.

“This experience has made me believe in humanity again,” Far Rockaway resident Melinda Santiago said of the union’s help in a press release. “After this is over, I’m going to volunteer and I’m going to pay it forward. So, I think it has enriched our lives in that way. It’s a blessing in disguise.”

The Laborers International Union of North America launched similar efforts, helping people clear the rubble left behind by the storm.

Supplies — such as clothes, tools, diapers, food and bottled water — arrived from all over the country and the world. More help arrived from the Asia-based Tzu Chi Foundation, a Buddhist disaster relief organization that donated $10 million in Visa gift cards to affected residents. Those groups are still remembered by South Queens residents, even eight years after the storm.

There are also memories of those who helped uplift the survivors’ moods. Several South Ozone Park residents packed their grills into trucks and brought burgers and dogs to those less fortunate than them.

A then-unknown Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Flushing), not yet elected to office, left northeast Queens and brought pizzas to the people of Hamilton Beach, an act of kindness that earned her the nickname “Pizza Patrol,” a moniker that has stuck ever since.

In Woodhaven and Richmond Hill, which escaped with minimal damage, Superstorm Sandy’s devastation was near total in Breezy Point on the far western edge of the Rockaways, where flooding led to fire that burned scores of homes to the ground. FILE PHOTO BY RIYAD HASAN

people dropped off clothes and supplies to the offices of Assemblyman Mike Miller (D-Woodhaven) and the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association that were donated to those south of the Belt Parkway.

Even in nearby Lindenwood, where apartment buildings still had power, people opened their homes. “We had strangers coming into buildings and showering and using laundry services,” Joann Ariola-Shanks, then president of the Howard Beach-Lindenwood Civic Association, said.

Their selflessness did not go unnoticed by those who had their lives forever changed by the storm.

“It was the surest sign to all of us that God exists and he loves every single one of us,” Ulrich said on the third anniversary of the storm at the annual Hamilton Beach vigil.

“Immediately after the storm, groups such as the Kiwanis, Rotary Club, Resorts World came here, they fed us and put clothes on our back,” Roger Gendron, president of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association, said at the same event a year later. “Sometimes they were here just to be a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen to us, but they were here for us.”

But residents never had to look that far for help. More often than not, most people could find that helping hand right next door — within people who were trying to rebuild their own lives.

People whose own homes were destroyed by the waters and wind would stop their own cleanup to go across the street, or a few blocks down to help someone else clear the rubble or bag up trash. Those who had more supplies on hand — be that clothes or a spare flashlight — didn’t hesitate to give them to someone on their block, even if they had never talked to them before.

Pat McCabe, Addabbo’s former chief of staff, said many wouldn’t have been able to get back on their feet without such help. “So while we suffered a great tragedy and disaster, we were shown God’s love on the days that followed and that love was shown by our neighbors and people across the country and across the world,” she said. “And that’s who we are. We were just people in a very difficult situation, who came together.”

Those kind deeds not only provided emotional support for many residents, but material help that they were not getting from organizations and agencies that were supposed to be helping in the first place. From New York City to the American Red Cross, government and humanitarian executives were criticized in the days following Sandy for leaving those most in need without help.

The Red Cross received widespread criticism after its vehicles sat in the Resorts World parking lot for days without making their way into communities like Hamilton Beach, Broad Channel and Breezy Point more than a week after the storm.

“When it came to helping people, they just weren’t here,” then-Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder said. “Until they came, it was neighbor helping neighbor,” he said. “We’re not waiting for anyone else to save us.”

The federal government, specifically the Federal Emergency Management Agency, faced backlash for not getting emergency equipment on the ground quick enough to clear roads.

National Grid and the Long Island Power Authority are still fighting a lawsuit that alleges the partner companies, which provide electricity to Long Island and parts of Queens, were to blame for the fire that burned down more than 100 Breezy Point homes. The utilities left power on for the Rockaway peninsula, which resulted in fires when water flooded people’s homes.

When people remember the officials’ response to Sandy, it’s often with anger or even laughter. It was not the government or any well-established group that had put them back on their feet and gave them a sense of normalcy again.

The residents of Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach, Broad Channel and Rockaway are back on their feet today because of the everyday person. Their kindness is what warms the survivors’ hearts, even on cold, rainy days like this past Oct. 29. Q

Private organizations, both large and small, were there for people in South Queens after Superstorm Sandy hit the area, New Hamilton Beach Civic Association President Roger Gendron said. FILE PHOTO BY ANTHONY O’REILLY