Whether you call it a hurricane, superstorm, or Frankenstorm, Sandy packed a wallop when it hit the U.S. East Coast in late October. Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, spreading 1,100 miles wide. Although winds topped out at 90 miles per hour upon landfall in New Jersey, Sandy’s most damaging assault was a record high storm surge, which reached 13.88 feet at New York City’s Battery Park. At least 131 people were killed in the United States and damages have been estimated as high as $71 billion.
Here are some firsthand reports from affected park and recreation agencies gathered through the NRPA networks in early November:

Boca Raton, Florida
The primary impact of the storm on Boca Raton, Florida, was erosion and damage to park features. We recognize that this damage is minimal when compared to many communities along the coast. While there was no need to assist with a recovery effort, we thought you and others might enjoy reading an email we received after the storm passed regarding Ocean Lifeguard Ed Noon, who works for Boca Raton Ocean Rescue:

“Last weekend my family and I went to the beach at South County (Palmetto Beach) to watch the waves. While standing on the beach, an immense surge occurred which reached the dune line. My 5-year-old daughter was knocked down and was being swept away. If not for the courage and reaction of one individual, I cannot imagine what might have happened. In the truest sense of the word, lifeguard Ed Noon is a hero….I owe him everything for rescuing my little girl.”
—J.D. Varney, Recreation Superintendent,
 Recreation Services Department, City of Boca Raton

Boston, Massachusetts
Nearly 800 street tree emergency calls were received by the City of Boston because of Hurricane Sandy’s strong winds and heavy rainfall. The Boston Parks Department has responsibility for the city’s 39,000 street trees in addition to trees on park properties. A damage assessment has found at least 30 park properties in need of serious tree debris removal work.

Tree crews had worked for several days prior to the storm’s scheduled arrival in Boston on Monday, October 29. Precarious-looking trees and limbs were cut to prevent them from falling onto utility wires, streets, or homes.

During the course of the severe weather, the mayor’s 24-hour hotline received approximately 800 calls from citizens regarding tree emergencies. The Boston Parks and Recreation Department’s senior managers manned the emergency operations center and stayed in constant contact with officials from utility companies and with managers of other departments in order to coordinate the response to reports of fallen trees on live electrical wires and onto streets.

The Boston Parks Department has received praise for its handling of the storm. One citizen in an email wrote, “I’ve never seen government more efficient as the speed with which they are clearing huge downed trees in Boston.”
—Jacquelyn Goddard, Communications Director, Boston Parks

Morris County, New Jersey
Much of our area is still without power, and gas (where you can find it) is a long wait. Our ice arena facility is a Red Cross shelter. At the moment, we have about 60 guests. Since we have three ice surfaces, we are also still open for business on two surfaces for those who want to get out of the house. Our parks are a mess, but we are offering some locations as staging areas for the power company. We are certainly not as devastated as the Jersey shore and we offer our prayers to our friends there.
—Denise Lanza, Morris County Park Commission, New Jersey

Greenwich, Connecticut
For Greenwich, Connecticut, Parks and Recreation Director Joseph Siciliano, it will be months before some of the town’s recreational facilities will be up and running. The dock at Island Beach was destroyed by the tidal surges and 80-mile-per-hour winds that pummeled the coastline on October 29 and 30.

“The dock is gone. It’s just the pilings looking like a bunch of sticks,” Siciliano says. A sun shelter on the three-acre park off Greenwich’s coast was also lost. The town’s other island, Great Captain’s Island, suffered land erosion and some damage to the metal landing at the dock, Siciliano says. The Island Beach dock was replaced in 1992 after it was destroyed by a nor’easter. The town’s other two beaches—Greenwich Point and Byram Park—were extensively damaged by Sandy.

Greenwich Point will remain closed to the public indefinitely, Siciliano says. The north concession stand with the lifeguard station in the 147-acre park in Old Greenwich was severely damaged with the walls of the structure blown out by Sandy’s unrelenting surf.

“I drove into the park and I saw a stove...then I saw the ice machine in the parking lot. I was thinking, what happened?” Siciliano says.

Crews at Byram Park have cleaned up most of the flotsam that blew into the park, including a boathouse that formerly stood at the end of a jetty across the inlet from the park. However, major sections of the seawall were broken and the cinderblock walls of the bathhouse were destroyed.

Siciliano says it is too early to calculate a cost estimate to the damage. However, he hopes that the repair costs will be covered by insurance or reimbursed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Waterford, Connecticut
Hurricane Sandy continues to impact our area. We’ve been without power going on day four, and extensive damage to our natural resources and infrastructure are still being evaluated and dealt with, but on a positive note, our community has pulled together with the help of many assets, including recreation and park services. During our daily statewide conference call this afternoon, President Obama pledged assistance and offered encouragement and a promise to “cut through the red tape.” In summary, I firmly believe I can establish a convincing story of how our profession once again is in the forefront of an essential service.

Sandy’s massive storm surge breached the sand dunes at Waterford Beach in three separate areas, sending sand all the way to Alewife Cove and destroying the dunes in those areas. What could it mean? The worst-case scenario would be a breach so large it would create another outlet for Alewife Cove right through Waterford Beach, essentially cutting the beach in half or possibly off altogether to the public, according to Waterford Environmental Planner Maureen Fitzgerald. At the least, the dunes could be destroyed if nothing is done, meaning waves will push sand into Alewife Cove during every powerful wind storm and change the area’s ecology.

We are confident we can save the dunes by moving some sand back to the area, and then planting more vegetation on top of the dunes this spring. The town has to get approval from the state’s environmental body, but hopefully that process will be fast. All is not lost—I think we can build it back up again.
—Brian Flaherty, Department of Recreation and Parks, Waterford, Connecticut

Long Beach, New York
The City of Long Beach Parks and Recreation Department is located on a barrier island off the south shore of Long Island, New York. We have had a severe impact to our community from Hurricane Sandy; FEMA, the National Guard, and surrounding states have contributed to ensure our residents’ safety and are working to initiate the recovery effort. We have had no lights or heat for one week, and a gas crisis in New York is making the situation tougher.

Our recreation facilities have incurred water damage from coastal flooding; the Recreation Center was flooded and will require a large-scale cleanup. Its pool filtration system was lost to flooding as well as all of our administrative equipment. All of the city’s playgrounds have been damaged and almost all of the two-mile boardwalk is damaged.

On November 2, the Long Beach Ice Arena and Long Beach Recreation Center were utilized as a donation center for the distribution of food and clothing. Volunteers and Long Beach Recreation workers are organizing and distributing donations.
—Christopher L. Paggi, Recreation Leader, City of Long Beach, New York

New York City, New York
Things are getting back to normal for us….we consider ourselves lucky compared to so many others. The assessments are still coming in. As badly damaged as many of our parks were, one of Sandy’s lessons is that the city is much better off ringed by waterfront parks, beaches, and wetlands that absorb the initial energy of these major storm events. The question facing us is how we can do a better job of creating landscapes that are both recreational and functional for stormwater management and that have the ability to absorb and redirect storm energy away from critical infrastructure. Landscape jiujitsu!
—Joshua Laird, NYC Parks