Revisiting Sprague - The Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

Yesterday was an unusually warm and sunny winter day so I decided to go out to take some photos. My destination was a small area of beach on the Raritan Bay. This spot also happens to be at the end of the block on which my son and his family lived until they moved last summer. It also happens to be one of the neighborhoods that was devastated during Hurricane Sandy a few months ago.

Being right on the beach. much of this wooded area was uprooted or washed away. Much of the fallen and rotted wood has already been removed, but there is still a lot of the damage that you can still see.

This was a recently installed bicycle rack as you walk down to the beach. My grandsons would spend a lot of time playing with it - going in and out of the openings. This is what the sheer power of the storm surge did to it.

While I was taking photos (mostly of the beach and the bay) I had the opportunity to speak to many of the people who live (or lived) in the neighborhood. Some are struggling to get by and rebuild. Some houses are waiting for demolition as they cannot be salvaged. Very indicative of the people of Staten Island - a small town mentality in the greater city - these stars appeared in places within the neighborhood.

My son's house was the one at the end of this row. There used to be a fence around the deck. Doors and windows which had been ripped out during the storm have been replaced. The gardens no longer exist. The surge was so bad that boats had been left in the woods across the street and 2 blocks down the street.

Uprooted trees are common sights right now. Many have already been removed along with the flotsam and jetsam that washed ashore from the bay - and the boats.

We used to bring my grandsons to this playground on a nice day. The day I took these photos might have seen many children playing during an unusually warm day in winter.

This star tells you something about the personality of a community.