First we were concerned that my oldest brother's home along the beach would be damaged by wind and surge. Then there was concern for my second oldest brother who was planning to ride it out with his wife in the year-round bungalow on Lincoln. Then as the surge was reported to be higher, we were concerned that anywhere on the end of the Rockaway Peninsula was not a good place to be.
Our family has roots in Breezy Point since the 1940s and there have been many happy times including a wedding during Hurricane Agnes in 1972. The houses and people of Breezy Point all survived the years of tide and storms, births, deaths even a recent tornado. But I don't think anyone imagined that Breezy Point would succumb to a fire, especially one during a hurricane.
Yes, the houses in the old section of Breezy are very close together and mostly made of wood. But folks were very careful and the local volunteer fire department was quick to respond to any emergency.
These days there are lots of family and friends in the Breezy Point community so this is a very sad day. We are still waiting for information about what happened and who was directly affected although we know everyone is physically okay.
There will be long-term costs I am sure.
I have collected these photos from news and tweets today and will add more when I find them. If these are copyrighted and need to be removed, just let me know. I was moving to capture them so quickly, I failed to make notes from where they came. If these are your photos, thank you for sharing them.
Sorry, none of the photos are labeled as I don't know exactly where they were taken. It appears the fire's destruction was between Ocean Ave and Kildare Walk, from the water to Oceanside Ave. I'll post more when I get more info.
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| Aerial shot posted from Wall Street Journal - AP/Mike Groll |
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