From the Swamp Rats: Hurricane Sandy Part 2

The following messages were a second set of images circulated among residents of Brookhaven hamlet by Anita Cohen and Marty Van Lith.  They have been slightly edited including removal of personal information and images which were largely duplicative.  They were posted with their permission. 

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Date:  November 14, 2012
Subject: From the swamp rats on River Lane

Dear All,

Tuesday morning, Oct 30, the second flood began. It was not as high as the original storm surge, about a foot lower, but still several inches covered River Lane and still over 3' by the mosquito ditch at the back of our property and still in both garages. 

This is #17 River Lane across the street from us. The owners said the house is totaled. They have to replace virtually everything,- remove floors and walls to the frame, replace all furniture, appliances, electrical, cabinets, etc, (i.e., everything removed to the point where you can see through the house). 

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 We have it pretty good compared to others on our street. We all lost our oil burners but it seems our washer, 'fridge and most other stuff still works, theirs does not.  

The second flood tide reached its peak at 11:30 AM. Water had been here for more than 12 hours, there would be at least another 12 hours to go before it all cleared out: 

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I turned the power back on but one phase was missing, so some of our house didn't have power. The oil burner repairman was here Tuesday night around 9 PM after the water in the garage receded, the drying out began.  By Wednesday the flood water was mostly gone so that I could survey the damage.

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Looking for firewood to help dry out the house:

My neighbor, Raanan, by his front lawn. His house will also be gutted:

Waterline on our house garage door:

Below- the remains of my riding lawnmower. Electrolysis destroyed virtually every connection and the motor was full of water. I think it's RIP for it:

This is #5 River Lane. They didn't waste any time emptying the house:

Here's where some of my lumber landed, about 200 yards north of our house and on another street:

Here's what the end of Bay Road looked like 2 days after the storm:

One of the three houses on Ocean Place (end of Bay Road). I believe this house was undergoing renovations when the storm struck, so I'm not sure how much of this is storm related damage: 

To add insult to injury we had a nor'easter last Thursday that flooded our street with water, snow and ice:

--Shipwrecked Marty