Hurricane Sandy: The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
For those of us lucky enough to have had power all night, the images and videos that were disseminating through the various screens in our lives were shocking and surreal. It was hard to believe our eyes. Hurricane Sandy visited New York with such relentless intensity that the destruction sometimes felt like it would never end. Perhaps it is because we were waiting so long for Sandy. Waiting from Sunday evening, when the subways and buses shut down, waiting all day Monday as the winds started to pick up speed and the waters started to rise, waiting and waiting until the storm hit and the flood waters rose from Breezy Point to the Battery, waiting for the storm to end as the air filled with the acrid scent of water hitting the third rails, waiting and waiting as the sky stayed dark and the only sounds were from the winds and the sirens. We waited for it to end.
And we watched to see what the storm had wrought. Some images and some stories were fabricated. But most of the ones that were impossible to believe were completely true. Perhaps one of the most eerie pictures was that of Jane’s Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park, partially submerged in the East River, its lights still on, a glowing, floating island in the dark waters. But there are many other haunting images that will stay with us long after all the waters have receded. Above is what Jane’s Carousel looked like last night. Below is what it looks like this morning.
- Jen Carlson/Gothamist
- Jane’s Carousel, this morning, waters receded, still intact
There is no real timetable for when New York will emerge from this disaster. It is not as simple as the water level dropping and the fires being put out. But New York will emerge intact, shadowed by its experience, but whole, once again.
