What were you doing 10 years ago today?
If you lived in Westport — or anywhere in the Northeast — you were probably cleaning up from Sandy.
The superstorm — not even a hurricane when it landed here — roared in on October 29, 2012.
Here are some scenes from those days:
Hillspoint Road, at what was then Elvira’s and Positano. (Photo/Matt Murray)
Old Mill Beach (Photo/Matt Murray)
Burying Hill Beach.
Saugatuck Shores. (Photos/Inklings staff)
Underneath this garage was a 1960 Mercedes. (Photo by Kathie Bennewitz)
North Avenue.
The Westport YMCA childcare center (then on Church Lane).
The sign on the garage says “Welcome to the Beach.” (Photo/Betsy Phillips)
Public Works took care of a section of boardwalk that ended up far from home.
The view from the Longshore golf course parking lot. The Parks and Rec office is in the background.
Grove Point Road.
Soundview Drive was “sandy” indeed.
Every grill on Compo’s South Beach was knocked over.
Colony Road. (Photo/Drew Angus)
Playhouse Square.
The corner of Highwood Lane and Calvary Road. (Photo/Larry Perlstein)
North Compo Road.
Cob Drive.
North Turkey Hill Road.
Hillspoint Road, near Schlaet’s Point. (Photo/Betsy Phillips)
Main Street.
Soundview Drive. (Photo/Mary Hoffman)
The Wakeman Field port-o-potties.
This satellite image of then-Hurricane Sandy,
Where were you when Sandy struck?
What lessons have we learned (or already forgotten) since then?
Click “Comments” below to share!
(From Superstorm Sandy — and through Hurricanes Irma and Isaias, blizzards, and through gorgeous weather too — “06880” is here for you. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog.)
Sandy totaled our Compo Beach bungalow 😪
We were visiting friends in NH and our flight back to SoCal was postponed for 2 days.
I had just left a wedding the night before Sandy rolled into town.
I was working Parks & Recreation Maintanence division at the time and part time Kerrigan Industries in my final year of college. I watched the sand hills made by Kowalsky fall to the first rising tide which became flat and even with the wall.
Eager to get to work I did not sleep that night. Was out checking on my parents house and observing what could possibly happen. Roads were closed, high water vehicles were doing rescues and checking for looters at Saugatuck and Bradley.
I have never seen waves like that in Westport ever, especially on roadways. The force was strong it lifted the base asphalt of Hillspoint separating from the ground and washing out below.
I spent the next three days with the Maintanence division recovering benches, removing sand from facilities, removing boardwalk that was broken up. Believe it or not, Joeys By The Shore barely had any damage inside. Billy Hess reinforced the doors and tarp was laid with foam blocker. Genius.
I still have photos I have not shared.
60 inches of sand per square feet was removed from the Compo. By Paul “Coach” Lanes home, the steps to the retaining wall down from the road were above my head. Exposed rock and wall from the early 1900s could be seen along with brick.
Kowalsky was in and out so quick removing sand from
the roads. Penna was checking all ground utilities and moving sand as well with the town.
Several hours before the “height” of the high tide, moon, and wind direction, I helped Pete from the Black Duck Wade into the water of the parking lot up against Tuttis to his building. Tom Kerrigan gave him a cement box mixer to float in over. We got to the stairs and saw water coming in through the heater boards.
We were lucky the winds changed direction before 10:35pm high tide, it would have been a lot worse.
As horrible and terrifying it was for everyone, I was excited to see resources be applied but also be involved in protecting and cleaning up the town. Luckily I did not have class for a few days and all assignments were done. If and when this happens again. I’m all in to help.
Incredible Pics “” I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t have any water or wind damage .. My power was on & off for a day or so .. No power , start generator .. 10 minutes later power came back for a few hours , then repeat complete process again ..lol
I now am in Florida and just missed the devastation of Ian. This governor , a republican and a supporter of trump was a solid NO vote to help areas ravaged by Sandy. Now he expected and got tremendous help from the Biden White House. It won’t be long that he starts bashing the President. This is what these politicians are like! No ethics or moral compass
Thank you for posting all of these photos! Mary
It devastated the first floor of our home on Danbury Ave.
Didn’t return after a 2.5 year renovation which included a wait for the house to be FEMA compliant raised.
lucky for us my parents own a home in Norwalk with attached apt
and separate entrance. All things considered …
We were lucky !!!
I owned JR’s Hot Dog Stand. I had 2 feet of water come into my restaurant. The day before my buddy Marc Bolduc who owns a Masonry company brought his crew and a trailer to take all of my equipment out. I came to check in my shop and was devastated as the water just kept coming in. Thanks to Marc he helped save my equipment.
When the water receded I began to clean and assess the damage. A few days later I was able to put everything back and get back into business. I would say overall I was lucky.
I agree we are so lucky the wind changed direction.
I was scheduled to give a lecture that night to a few dozen ophthalmology residents. Only two of them, from NYU Medical Center, showed up. We cancelled the lecture. By the next morning, at NYU the power was out and the basement levels (including the backup generators) were flooded. Patients were hand-carried by brigades of students and staff down the stairways and sent by ambulances to the other hospitals in the City, where NYU doctors were given emergency privileges to continue caring for their patients. Not a single life was lost in the transfers. My son and several of his friends made their way to our place on East 86th street from their apartments, all without power, in lower Manhattan, and camped out with us for a few days. They appreciated the hot meals and hot showers, but most of all the power strips we set up in the living room, where their computers could plug in and they could enjoy our intact high-speed internet connections!
I was at my desk looking outside at a number of 15 to 25 inch diameter trees bending in the wind, and then all of a sudden they all came falling towards the house. I had no time to leave my home office as they crashed into the roof and broke through. I am incredibly lucky a large beam held up and did not fall down on me. I have to give a ton of credit to Traveler’s insurance who had an adjuster come with a contractor THE NEXT day! $125,000 of damage, 6 months of having three rooms of my house refurbished and an entire new roof. Plus when a tree falls on your yard you “own” it. Well in this case Wendy Epstein, my neighbor whose trees were the ones that fell very generously offered to help out with cutting and removing them. All in all we made out ok and I am sure better than many others.