My mother and I returned to our Hometown yesterday. I braced myself for a visit with my Aunt, who is very sick and currently recuperating in hospital from emergency surgery. Throughout my life she’s been a strong and loving presence and to see her so weak and in pain was heartbreaking. Prognosis is still vague, more tests needed, quality of life questionable.
The face I was not prepared for, the face of total devastation… was the south shore of Staten Island itself. The hospital sits on the outskirts of the destruction. Hurricane Sandy did a real number here, a place that has never known this kind of horrific storm or massive flooding. So many of these are the homes of the blue collar working class of New York. Block after block… hundreds of homes.. destroyed.
The air is heavy with “debri pollution”.. a light smog of destruction dust is everywhere.
People wear surgical masks on the street, there are cops on every corner. NYPD helicopters circle the area and squad cars patrol the streets. While people await insurance inspections, repair work, etc… they sleep outside in their cars because they are not allowed to occupy their homes, too dangerous. Stickers mark the houses that are livable, condemned or restricted use (you can come and go to get your stuff, but you can’t live here).
Black mold has taken over the first and second floors of homes that otherwise look like they might have survived the worst damage. There are people shoveling soot away from their steps, piling trash out in the streets… I don’t know how many are getting help and I don’t know when or who will pick up all that trash. On a Monday afternoon, all I saw were cops standing guard and residents scraping at the remains, tossing things to the curb.
