NYC prepares to mark 10 years since Superstorm Sandy, while looking to prevent future destruction
NEW YORK -- Saturday marks 10 years since the flooding, deaths and devastation of Superstorm Sandy changed the Tri-State Area forever.
As CBS2's John Dias reported Friday, Mayor Eric Adams wants to prepare for another possible storm as many reflect on the anniversary.
Coney Island and its boardwalk are practically back to normal today. But 10 years ago, Sandy left parts of the area looking more like a wasteland. Most of it needed a total rebuild.
"It was a disaster," one man said. "All the boardwalk was full of sand. It was like a mountain."
The damage remains engrained in the minds of many.
"It seems like only yesterday," said Michael Foy, of Brooklyn.
Foy described himself as "a lucky one," since his home in Gravesend home survived the storm. His neighbors' did not.
Over the course of 48 hours, Sandy tore through the city, destroying nearly 300 homes and damaging more than 69,000 residential units.
"I'm hoping that's it's another 100 years before we get a storm like that again," said Foy.
Adams doesn't want to wait to find out. Wednesday, while kicking off a $552 million construction project designed to protect the Two Bridges neighborhood on the Lower East Side, the mayor called on the federal government to fund future projects worth $8.5 billion.
"Storms like Sandy, they were once estimated by scientists to occur once every 100 years. That has changed. They're becoming stronger and more frequent, due to our rapidly warming planet," said Adams.
Link: Ten Years After Sandy: NYU Public Health Researchers Chart the Region's Recovery
This week, students from several Coney Island schools joined hands with local groups and city agencies for a commemorative day of service, working to beautify the area in memory of the storm.
"We're not going to give up on Coney Island. We are going to show that we care," fifth grader Fatma Almahta said.
In an innovative CBS News New York documentary, we are hearing for the first time some of the 911 calls many made from New Jersey, giving us a glimpse into what it was like to live through the impact of the storm there.
"A tree is going to actually through the roof it looks like, and there's wires hanging down," one caller said.
"I need to report that my father is staying at his beach house and it's being inundated with water," said another.
"The house is falling apart, the deck fell apart," another added.
We're also revisiting some of the hardest hit areas, like the Rockaways, to see what changed and what still needs to be done.
Sandy caused $19 billion in damage. It was one of the most costly storms New York City has ever experienced.
On Friday, NYU released new research that highlights the long term impact of the storm on the 18 hardest hit counties in New York and New Jersey.