News

UPDATED - Broad Channel also abused by Hurricane Sandy

Image Source: Rockawayist Image source: WNYC Broad Channel, in the middle of Jamaica Bay, and considered part of the Rockaways by locals, has seen its share of flooding from Hurricane Sandy, too. Here was a flood scene from Monday morning: Image source: nmarie on Flickr And later that night, middle of the early hours…

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by megcotner1

11/03/2012 0

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Image Source: Rockawayist

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Image source: WNYC

Broad Channel, in the middle of Jamaica Bay, and considered part of the Rockaways by locals, has seen its share of flooding from Hurricane Sandy, too. Here was a flood scene from Monday morning:

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Image source: nmarie on Flickr

And later that night, middle of the early hours of Tuesday:

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Image source: nmarie on Flickr

Broad Channel’s flooding made it into the news a bit. Here are some sources. First, from the Wall Street Journal:

Before the storm struck on Monday, the firefighters walked the streets of Broad Channel, Queens, with a bullhorn, blaring a simple message: Get out. Not everyone listened, and by Monday evening, the cries for help—dozens of them—had begun.

Superstorm Sandy brought Jamaica Bay’s waters crashing into the Queens island community, sending residents who ignored evacuation orders scrambling into attics. The firefighters—all of them volunteers—jumped into two small boats and began pulling in people—some of whom had swum out of their flooded home’s open windows.

By 1:30 a.m., they had rescued about 30 people, said the department’s chief, Dan McIntyre. “Some people are very stubborn,” Mr. McIntyre said, though he added that he understood the impulse to ride out the storm. “We’ve lived through a lot here—this was severe.”

NY1’s Political Director Bob Hardt mentioned Broad Channel on Monday in his hurricane blog:

With the tide coming in, the ocean has created a small river flowing down the street in front of the house. It’s basically at the high water point of Irene from last year. The problem is the tide will be coming in for another 3 hours and 40 minutes. And then there’s tomorrow morning’s tide too. I wonder if the basement has a chance. Rocco and Dean and Davide and Mac are running around shooting video while it’s still light. We’re actually at relatively high ground on the peninsula which means many of my neighbors are getting it much worse. I can’t even imagine what’s happening on Broad Channel and lower points on the peninsula. While it already has caused serious damage, it has at least 15 more hours to wreak havoc. It is going to take the city a long time to recover from this.

Then early on Thursday morning:

Not only has he been shooting great video for us in the Rockaways but Macnair Sillick has been taking the most amazing photos that I’m trying to share. From the remnants of a Broad Channel volunteer fire truck to a pileup of cars outside the Irish Circle bar on Beach 102nd Street to a group of people trying to charge their cell phones, Mac has an amazing eye. This last photo across from the 100th Precinct makes me think of the tree in “Waiting for Godot.”

Here’s the photo he refers to (click to enlarge):

Image source: NY1

This is an update from Thursday, via City & State:

Residents were still pumping out standing water and removing felled trees on Wednesday. Several trees toppled into side streets, blocking traffic and smashing cars. One woman said floodwaters reached the ceiling of her home.

Sanitation workers took over Broad Channel, a lobster claw-shaped island in Jamaica Bay bisected by Cross Bay Boulevard, cleaning up the soiled rugs, furniture and clothing that homeowners left on the side of the street for removal. Other workers joined firefighters and police removing planks of wood, flotsam and even a boat or two from the roads. One house on stilts was tilting at a steep angle toward its neighbor. At the southern tip of Broad Channel, half of the Bayview Restaurant and Catering Hall now resided at the foot of the Cross Bay Bridge or floated into the bay.

Frustration in Broad Channel over the slow pace of relief efforts boiled over when nearly 300 residents temporarily blocked traffic after FEMA officials did not show up for a meeting on Wednesday night.

Broad Channel folks have been frustrated with FEMA. The Village Voice phrased the situation Wednesday evening as a “near riot”:

Two days after Hurricane Sandy, the situation in the storm-stricken Rockaways and other southern Queens neighborhoods is getting worse in terms of the need for basic supplies and aid. Anger is growing that the government relief agencies have been slow to deal with the problems.

Tonight, in Broad Channel, a sliver of land on Jamaica Bay which was hammered by the hurricane, there was a near riot when 280 people arrived for a much anticipated meeting with FEMA representatives, but the reps didn’t show up. That caused already frayed tempers to boil over, and residents blocked traffic to vent their anger.

And from one local resident, “I drove from here to Rockaways today and there are lots with two feet of sand covered with fuel oil, people walking down the street in their same clothes,” Mundy says. “It’s like ‘Dawn of the Dead.’ You see people crying left and right.”

This boat was/is on Cross Bay Blvd in Broad Channel on 10/30 (click to enlarge):