Poured cmu block. Two stories. Impact resistant windows. One without many trees nearby to fall on it.
Definitely can’t be in a flood zone.
Belle Harbor? My college ex was from Rockaway Beach so I had spent some time there and I lived in Astoria when Sandy hit, so I got some friends to donate blankets, canned goods, etc and loaded up a car and took them out. There was so much sand piled a couple blocks inland it looked like they had cleared the streets after a sand blizzard.
Some of the worst damage IIRC was from fires burning for hours because the flooding kept the fire department trapped too far away to help.
Luckily Astoria was far enough inland that it wasn’t bad. As it was coming in, I kept poking my head out the front door to see how bad it was. The last time I did it, a metal garbage can lid went sailing past at eye level and I was like ok good enough for me to stay away from doors and windows now.
When it was still a few hours away, I walked down to the park on the East River and was blown away by how high the water was compared to normal.
1 Like
I’m shocked by how little water got in through other cracks and crevices. It’s also crazy because you look at that and your mind pictures the overall water level dropping if it breaks, because we’re used to water levels equalizing and not used to one side of the barrier being the Gulf of Mexico. Like if those broke, how quickly would the water be 3 feet high or whatever that is? 30 seconds? 5 minutes?
A transformer got messed up and set a bunch of buildings on fire in Breezy Point.
There were several fires Over the next year due to corroded wires. I think it was Seaside heights lots a few blocks of boardwalk businesses.
Yeah that’s the one, and the fire department was stuck out of range to fight the fire. The devastation in that general area when I went out was the worst I’ve ever seen in person, but the people were so nice and so grateful for the help they were getting - none of which was coming from the Red Cross or FEMA at the time, it was all community organized. You just kept hearing people saying, “We’re all alive, and the rest will eventually be replaced.”
But most of the people I met would have been 10-20 blocks from Breezy Point, so they took total losses on their houses due to flooding but were able to take items of personal importance upstairs and ride it out with their lives and their family heirlooms/nostalgic stuff. Glad your mother got out ahead of time, and hopefully she managed to save some of those important items and whatnot.
Yup. FEMA went, “These are temporary residences. Tough luck.” and fucked off. So the only way they were gonna get help is to help themselves.
As for getting out, I was definitely panicking as I was living in China at the time. Only thing I could do was watch and hope that my Mom would give in and leave. She and the dogs got out before they lost everything that was left. Foolishly (imo), she chose to rebuild there a few years later and is now trying to sell the house to move closer to my sisters for non-superstorm reasons. I’m sure hurricanes aren’t good for sales.
And the Red Cross claimed to be there and I couldn’t find a single person who had seen them, nor could I find them driving around. In the richer neighborhoods hit less hard, though, they had all the help they could give.
Good timing to move out of a coastal area. Don’t worry, most people are clueless that the storm risk in coastal areas in the Northeast is increasing. This shouldn’t hurt her resale value much.
1 Like
I guess a high water table makes subterranean wires not feasible(?), but it seems crazy to me that these high end neighborhoods in hurricane alley would have above ground wires.
Somehow she makes a hurricane boring. Impressive.
2 Likes
How the fuck is the rest of that house so water right that that is possible?
I mean, its basically the ocean, the most destructive force on the planet saying “Im going to be here now and damn anything that gets in my way.”
1 Like
I mean it looked like there was water coming through the middle window. Wouldn’t be surprised if that picture was taken right before the water burst through.
Nearly 3,500 residents of Collier, Charlotte, and Lee Counties received a push notification on their smartphones offering $700 cash assistance, no questions asked. A Google algorithm deployed in partnership with nonprofit GiveDirectly had estimated from satellite images that those people lived in badly damaged neighborhoods and needed some help.
Another danger of the high-tech approach to aid delivery is that an unexpected message offering cash will sound too good to be true. In September, a test by GiveDirectly and Google in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona sent out push notifications to 700 people. But just under 200 people took up the offer.