Environment
How to Protect the Rockaways From Another Sandy
A community bands together to call for change, but it's not clear what exactly needs to be done.
Just over four months after Superstorm Sandy swamped the Rockaway peninsula in New York City, leaving it battered and bewildered, I am standing where the boardwalk used to be with Dan Brown, a filmmaker, and John Cori, an electrician. Both are local guys who grew up in this remote part of Queens. Both are trying to figure out how to save this beach, and this neighborhood.
Today, there is a cold wind blowing in from the Atlantic, gusting up to 50 miles an hour. Waves of 8 to 14 feet are predicted. The National Weather Service has issued a coastal flood warning. Facing into the stiff breeze is a little like being blasted with a cold hairdryer that is blowing sand.