by Tucker Birmingham
As everyone knows, the northeast coast was recently hit violently by the superstorm hurricane, Sandy. Though Ocean City was harmed by this storm, many other places were affected as well. New York and Long Beach Island might never be the same as before Sandy. Sandy was a historic storm event that people will be talking about for a long time. The projected cost of this storm is record-breaking, a shocking 50 billion dollars. The formerly held record for the Northeast is from Irene, 16 billion dollars. Some people still don’t have power to this day. That is over five weeks of absolutely no power. Twenty-four of the 113 dead from the storm were in New Jersey alone.
Some Ocean City residents were lucky enough to get through the storm with little to no water or wind damage, and only occasional power outages. However, others weren’t so lucky. Fiona Flynn, a resident of Ocean City, reports “Water surrounded my house. We were completely trapped, watching the water rise.” There are others like her and worse, who suffered immensely from this storm.
Luckily, there are organizations that are determined to get Ocean City and surrounding areas back on their feet. One of the most active is OCNJ Care, an organization that is helping residents with food, clothing, and shelter needs. They have already helped over 5,000 people begin repairing their lives, but still need volunteers and donations. Those harmed by Sandy, please reach out for help from the community. For those who happened to be more fortunate, please reach out to help those who weren’t as lucky. Ocean City can really be an amazing community when they join together, as is evident in its residents’ recently demonstrated iron resolve in the face of this torrential weather event and aftermath.