It was the storm that made history and misery, left death and unprecedented destruction, crippled mass transit and tested the city’s mettle from the Bronx to Breezy Point.
Hurricane Sandy pounded the city into submission Tuesday, with officials reporting at least 32 New Yorkers killed during the storm’s lethal two-day attack and estimating damages at a staggering $20 billion.
The dead included a heroic city cop who drowned inside a flooded Staten Island basement after rescuing his girlfriend, infant and father; a dog-walker and her friend killed by a tree that fell in Brooklyn; a Manhattan woman who died when a power outage cut off her oxygen supply; and a man killed when a downtown mini-tsunami whipped across lower Manhattan and slammed him through a glass door. “Catastrophic or historic” were hardly overstatement when it came to Sandy, said Gov. Cuomo as the city and the suburbs awoke to a massive hurricane headache that threatened to linger for days.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE COVERAGE OF SANDY’S AFTERMATH
But Mayor Bloomberg sounded the first note of optimism Tuesday evening: “We’re on the road to recovery” – even as officials warned that subway service would be out for three or four days and power out at least that long.
According to the risk assessment firm Equacat, the damage tab for Sandy should hit $20 billion – about double the total inflicted by Irene. The early guesstimate doesn’t include the possibility of repairing the water-soaked subway system, which could push the total above 1992’s destructive Hurricane Andrew.
Katrina’s price tag to the Gulf Coast climbed above $100 billion.
The imperfect storm shut down all city transit for a third straight day while inflicting the worse damage in the 108-year history of the subway system. Schools were closed, and remained shuttered again Wednesday.
The New York Stock Exchange was rained out for a second straight day – but opened for business as usual Wednesday. It was the first time the exchange closed for two consecutive days due to weather since 1888. It came after a storm surge nearly 14-feet high submerged the Financial District.
How ferocious were the rising waters across the city? Even the New York Aquarium was flooded.
Things were no better in the skies, even after Sandy and its 80 mph winds departed. More than 12,000 flights were canceled due to the hurricane, and all three major local airports were closed yet again despite only light rain and dissipating winds. Kennedy and Newark airports opened Wednesday, but LaGuardia remained closed.
The howling gales created some surreal tableaus. On Staten Island, a 168-foot tanker was hurtled onto land – about a mile away from where it was moored. A powerboat was tossed in the middle of the Metro-North tracks in Ossining.
A construction crane dangled precariously for a second straight day above West 57th St. – becoming the city’s latest tourist attraction. Gawkers snapped photos and stood with their heads tilted toward the skyline.
The storm’s most stunning blow landed in Breezy Point, the Queens beachfront getaway where a massive fire gutted more than 100 homes despite the heroic efforts of hundreds of firefighters.
The smoke-eaters raced through floodwaters that reached to their necks as the blaze raged like a forest fire transported to the Rockaway Peninsula. Those homes that dodged the fire were flooded by the massive waves off the Atlantic Ocean, with one local guessing that 40% of the homes were destroyed in the enclave of 3,000 people.
Another 40% were in damaged in some fashion by Sandy, said Madeline Conway, who lives on Beach 215th St.
The cause of the catastrophic conflagration was under investigation, although some locals suggested generators used when the power went out could have ignited the blaze that left many homeless.
“There is nothing intact,” said Tom Duffy, a 24-year resident, as he and wife Deidre went through the debris of their home in a search for family keepsakes. “We never expected devastation like this.”
The entire Rockaway Boardwalk, roughly 50 blocks, was destroyed.
Chunks of the shattered wood flew into houses and cars, with the concrete pilings left behind as mute testimony to the savage storm.
The Queens firefighters weren’t the only heroes. Rescuers and staff at New York University Langone Medical Center removed nearly 300 patients, floor by floor, when generator power cut out.
The first patients carried down the stairs to safety: 20 infants in neo-natal intensive care. The whole process took about 15 hours.
“Everyone here is a hero,” said Dr. Bernard Birnbaum after the dramatic rescues. Statewide, Cuomo reported there were 156 rescue missions by first responders as Sandy battered the state.
Floodwaters gushed into the pit at the World Trade Center construction site, where the lights on the Freedom Tower were dark – along with everything else around the skyscraper.
President Obama, speaking in Washington, said he encouraged Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo to call him directly for assistance of any kind.
“I want to praise them for the extraordinary work they have done,” Obama said. “Sadly, we are getting more experience with these kind of big impact storms along the East Coast.”
Bloomberg turned down the president’s offer to visit the storm-whipped city, but mentioned that he was “not trying to dis” Obama, who instead planned a stop in New Jersey. In the chief executive’s stead, Cuomo said, the national “Unwatering SWAT Team” was headed to the city.
Tuesday afternoon, the winds that whipped the region were gone and only intermittent rain fell. But Sandy’s legacy of carnage will endure in the memory of New Yorkers for decades.
Unlike last year’s Hurricane Irene, which inflicted less damaged on the city than expected, Sandy delivered on every promise of destruction.
“I can say unequivocally that the MTA last night faced a disaster as devastating as it has ever faced in its history,” declared MTA Chaiman Joseph Lhota. “Sandy wreaked havoc on the entire transportation system.”
That included the suburban Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road, along with the PATH trains between New Jersey and Manhattan.
The PATH tubes became a subterranean river, filling with water from top to bottom – about five miles worth, according to Cuomo. The subway terminal at the South Street Seaport was filled like a bathtub, and the LIRR tunnel beneath the East River was flooded, too.
“We have some of the subway tunnels where they are filled to the ceiling,” the governor said Tuesday. “You have the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. You can’t even imagine the amount of water in that tunnel.”
Obama suggested that military equipment could be used to pump the standing water out of the subways and tunnels. PATH service was expected to be out for a week to 10 days.
In addition to the swamped subways, six transit garages were shut down by high water and rail yards at 207th St. and 148th St. in Manhattan were flooded.
Transit officials hoped to return subway service in stages, but it was unclear when New Yorkers might enjoy a routine rush hour. Free bus service began Tuesday and continued Wednesday, with the buses operating on a limited Sunday schedule.
The best estimate for the return of subway service was three to four days.
“If there are parts of the subway system we can get up, we will get them up,” said Lhota. “We will be able to complement them with our bus service as well.”
Drivers looking to reach Manhattan had few options, as the downtown flooding closed the Holland Tunnel for a second straight day.
The damage was hardly limited to the city. The death toll climbed above 45 in nine states, with a staggering 8 million left without power. In Atlantic City, a huge portion of the historic boardwalk was destroyed by the howling winds and raging surf.
Con Ed reported 827,622 outages across the five boroughs, with Manhattan taking the brunt of the outages with 270,000. All of Lower Manhattan was without electricity after the East and Hudson rivers flooded into the city.
More than 115,000 customers lost power in Staten Island and Queens, about 90,000 in Brooklyn and almost 50,000 in the Bronx.
“This will be one for the record books,” said utility senior vice president John Miksad.
The raging storm claimed lives across the city – and the death toll could go even higher. Two little Staten Island boys, ages 2 and 4, were missing a full day after their mother’s car became submerged on Father Capodanno Blvd. Police and firefighters were searching door to door in flooded neighborhoods for other victims.
Falling trees, downed power lines and gushing water claimed at least 19 others – many in horrific fashion.
In Richmond Hills, Queens, a 23-year-old woman snapping cell phone photos of a burning power line was killed when she stepped on a nearby live wire.
“She was right on top of the live cables and they were just frying her,” said witness Renny Bhagretta, 44, who watched the tragedy from his home. “She couldn’t move. She didn’t have a chance.”
The downed power lines prevented rescuers and Con Ed workers from reaching the woman for two hours.
The off-duty officer killed on Staten Island died a hero after making sure his father, girlfriend and baby were safely tucked in the attic of their home as it filled with water. He went back downstairs once everyone was safe — and never returned.
The cop was found dead in the basement around 5 a.m. Tuesday, said NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
In Brooklyn, a teacher and grad student were crushed beneath towering, tumbling trees in Ditmas Park.
Jessie Streich-Kest, 25, and her friend Jacob Vogelman were found dead after taking her beloved pitbull-mix Max for a walk at the height of the storm.
Streich-Kest, the daughter of longtime labor activist John Kest, ignored her mother’s advice to stay inside before taking her deadly trip down a street of Victorian homes.
“She loved the dog greatly,” said one neighbor. “She was actually a very cautious person. All I can think is the winds seemed like they were dying down.”
And falling debris killed a 13-year-old girl in Staten Island, while a 70-year-old woman was found floating inside a flooded house in Queens. Near the dangling crane, angry tourists were blocked from reaching their hotels – and they were very unhappy.
“We’re wondering what the hell is going on,” said Garry Poulsen, 49, from West Palm Beach, Fla., who is visiting with his wife Donna, 48.
“This is ridiculous. In Florida they would have made that crane come down.”
The pair was blocked from entering their room at the Grand Hilton on W. 57th St. and 7th Ave.
“We’ve been in these clothes for two days,” said Donna. “The police said, ‘You can’t go back, you’re out in the street.’ You can’t tell people that.”
Not everyone was suffering from storm fatigue. A jogger sporting sneakers, red shorts and an iPod zipped up Broadway past Federal Plaza.
“Hurricane Man!” smirked one passer-by dressed more appropriately in jeans, a jacket, scarf and hat.
City officials said Sunday’s marathon will go on, but the annual Holloween Parade in Greenwich Village was cancelled.
The Board of Elections was surveying polling places around the city to make sure they would be open for the presidential election next Tuesday.
“I don’t think New Yorkers should be worried,” said GOP Board of Elections Commissioner J. . Polanco. “The governor’s been working with us so has the state board to ensure that Tuesday goes off without a glitch.”
