Hurricane Sandy Anniversary

Were getting close to the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. Here in Long Beach things are slowly returning to normal. I wanted to share some photographs I took this year.

Here is my friend Chris Morrissey who has worked in the Beach Maintenance Department for the last 33 years.

As a sign of their appreciation for his years of service the City of Long Beach honored Chris by having him lay the first beam of the boardwalk rebuilding project.

 

It was fun to be in attendance to commemorate the occasion and to watch my friend be the center of attention!

 The City had a celebration October 25, 2013 to mark the finish of the boardwalk rebuilding project. Govenor Cuomo attended and helped set the last board in place.

While it is great to have the boardwalk back it is a sad fact that many Long Beach residents aren't back in their storm damaged homes yet! Many are waiting on funds to rebuild while tangled up in bureaucratic red tape.

As one walks through the West End of town many homes remain shuttered such as this bungalow on Wyoming Avenue. My grandparents owned it in the 60's and my family spent many great Summers there!

On the same street the home that belonged to our friends the Donnely's has been lifted to meet Fema regulations and it now towers over the bungalow next to it.



It's weird but the one place I go in town where I'm not reminded of the storm is the beach! I try to visit it every day. You never know what you'll find.

  On this particular day we had seaweed that was knee deep on some beaches.

On another day while out walking my wife and I came across this marriage proposal created in the sand for a gal named Gabby. Unfortunately we missed her reaction to it.

 

 While out fishing one morning I found this porpoise washed up. I came across several of them dead this Summer.

 We also had some whales in our area chasing after baitfish. I was lucky enough to spot one not far off this jetty breaching with his mouth open after bait! His head looked to be the size of a VW Bug!

Occasionally I'll find a lure on the beach. I enjoy doctoring them up. These two are my recent finds.

This one got a new paint job just in time for the Fall run of stripers!

This lure I'm going to dress with an eel skin.

The skins been added now all it needs is a new sharp hook.

When the water enters the empty tail portion of the skin it returns to its natural size and the lure imparts a life like appearance to the eel skin.