Assessing the damage in Oceanside and Island Park

Taking stock of buildings in the community

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Drive through Oceanside or Island Park, and you’ll see the toll that Hurricane Sandy took on the communities. 

Piles of refuse — what used to be people’s homes and belongings — still line the curbs, waiting to be carted away. The odor of wet, rotting things no longer hangs so heavy in the air, but it’s still there in some places. 

The damage is unavoidable. But with people understandably absorbed in their own dilemmas and reconstruction work, it can be hard to see the bigger picture, the storm’s impact on two entire communities. 

The Herald assessed the damage to public buildings — libraries, firehouses, places of worship — in the two communities to see how they fared. 

 

Schools

Both school districts were hit hard by the storm. In Oceanside, School 8 was severely flooded and is still closed. Classes are taking place in School 6 while repairs are under way. For more information about the Oceanside School District, see last week’s story “School concerts canceled” at http://goo.gl/ex5dR.

The Hegarty School in Island Park was also extensively flooded, forcing the district to consolidate all of its classes in the middle school. See page 6 for more on the Island Park School District.

 

Oceanside Fire Department

Hose Company No. 1 and South Side Hose Company 2 were both flooded by the storm.

The flooding damaged the electrical system at the Hose Company No. 1 building, delaying its reopening for weeks. 

Two of the company’s trucks were damaged. One engine was damaged while out on a call, and the utility truck, which was used for towing the rescue boat, as a personnel carrier and as a mobile command post, was destroyed.

South Side was hit even harder. All of the trucks and personnel were evacuated from the one-story building, which was fortuitous in hindsight: four feet of water came in through the doors and destroyed the interior.

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