cnponline.org - by Chris Beck - November 14, 2012

More than a week after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East coast, residents along with local, state, and federal officials, and electricity, water, and other critical infrastructure sectors are still struggling to recover and rebuild from the devastation.  As an American, I worry about my fellow citizens in the storm-ravaged areas.  I applaud the heroic efforts to rebuild lives and communities and hope they will be successful and be completed as quickly as possible.

As CNP's new fellow for Homeland Security and Resilience, it is important to me to examine the effects of the storm and to ask whether our national policies regarding natural disasters and other catastrophic scenarios are appropriate and of substantial rigor.  This post is not intended to "Monday morning quarterback" the preparedness or response to this storm, but to highlight some lessons that can be learned and policies that should be examined and strengthened going forward to increase our resilience against future events.

Dennis Saleeby
Field Operations Director
NY Resilience System

Michelle Cortez
of Veggie Island
Beach 96th street and Rockaway Blvd

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand toured the damage in the Rockaways.
Photo provided by the Borough President’s office.

queenstribune.com - by Natalia Kozikowska
November 15, 2012

With some residents approaching their third week without power, the Long Island Power Authority has removed the Rockaways from its power outage map, citing the area as simply too damaged by Superstorm Sandy to restore electrical service at this time.

Nick Lizanich, vice president of transmission and distribution at LIPA, said that restoring power in the Rockaways in its current condition could potentially create a dangerous situation because many of the homes that sustained flood damage contained massive amounts of water that came out of the ocean and Jamaica Bay, leaving electrical panels under water.

“When it is under water, especially sea water, you end up with salt contamination and debris contamination, such that if we were to try and put the power on, there is the possibility the house could catch on fire,” Lizanich said.