Some Sandy damages can’t be measured

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In some ways, we have assessed the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy, as disturbing as the figures may be. Sandy’s destruction caused at least $65 billion in damages nationwide, and no region was hit harder than Long Island’s South Shore, Oceanside and Island Park in particular.

In Island Park, almost every one of the approximately 1,000 homes was damaged in some way, some of them irreparably. Over 40 have been razed. Francis X. Hegarty Elementary suffered $11 million in damages and had to close its doors for 10 months. Peter’s Clam Bar, an iconic restaurant that had operated on Long Beach Road for 75 years, was shuttered. The village hall was flooded by water and sewage, and has been boarded up ever since, while administrative offices were housed in trailers.

As difficult as it is, homes and schools and restaurants and village halls can be rebuilt, and even made more resilient to storms. Hegarty reopened for Fall 2013. Peter’s made a comeback, under new ownership and after $2 million in repairs, last summer. Last week, the Island Park village board approved plans for a new $1.5 million village hall in the footprint of the old one. The process of rebuilding has been slow and painful, especially because the village is waiting for the approval of more than $40 in federal money for drainage improvements and storm infrastructure repairs. Homeowners, too, have been kept waiting for the federal assistance they were promised. But little by little, the village is coming back to life.

Island Park Mayor Michael McGinty said that building a new village hall is an important step in the village’s recovery. “I’m excited to see something come to fruition,” he said. “The new village hall will be a focal point in the entire village. We always talk about ‘Destination Island Park,’ and this will help make Island Park a destination.”

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