Klaas Armster assessing remaining sections of boardwalk at Beach 35th St. in the Rockaways. 

 

These block (approx. 4″ x 12″ x 12-16″) act as bracing between supporting joists under the boardwalk, preventing movement – unless hurricane force waves upend the entire structure. 

 

Riis Park functioned as a transfer station for trash in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. The material loaded here – representing a trickle of what flowed through the park in the early weeks after the storm – is headed for landfills inn Pennsylvania and upstate New York. 

 

Local residents taking a winter walk along the beach. Adversity often makes the heart grow fonder for New York. 

 

NYC Parks Dept. here in a balancing act. The city has needed to balance clean-up, reclamation and re-building priorities in the storms aftermath. 

 

Without the fatal risks of 9/11, events such as hurricane Sandy have nonetheless broadened the scope of heroes responding to crime and disaster in Gotham.