Coming back after Sandy

Post-Sandy tales of woe — and waiting

A storm, and a new beginning in Bay Park

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Bay Park resident Dana Casas was nine months pregnant when the hurricane hit — and after losing almost all of their possessions in the storm, she and her husband, Brayan, are nevertheless thankful. “He’s the blessing that holds everything together,” Dana said of her now 9-month-old son Nathaniel. “Everything else can be replaced.”

The Casases bought their three-bedroom, one-bath house on the end of Williamson Street in Bay Park in 2009. “It needed a little bit of work, but we hadn’t started on it yet,” said Dana. “… [W]e wanted to see if we liked it, if it was a good fit for us.” She said that during Hurricane Irene in 2011, they stayed and watched as the floodwaters came up to the door, and then receded. “We got lucky then,” she said.

But this time was very different. “My doctor said that he didn’t want me delivering the baby in the storm,” Dana said, “so we evacuated.” The couple went to stay with her parents in Queens, which was closer to North Shore/LIJ Medical Center in Manhasset, where Dana planned to have the baby. So they weathered the storm there, wondering how their house was faring as Sandy lashed the South Shore.

Surveying the damage

The next day, Dana and Brayan ventured to Bay Park, not sure what they would find. “I had to see if for myself,” Dana said.

What they found was a crawl space under the house that had been five feet deep, but was now six feet deep because of the rush of the water, and markings that showed that the bay waters had risen another three to four feet onto the first floor. The refrigerator was lying on its side, filled with water. Most of their possessions were destroyed.

They were unable to get contractors in right away, Dana said, and her family stepped in to help with the initial cleanup. “We didn’t know how hard it was going to hit,” she said of the storm. “Luckily, we had put some things up on a higher level, like our wedding album and other photo albums. We were able to save some of Brayan’s clothes that were hanging on a higher rack in the closet. My things were destroyed.”

The nursery they had prepared for Nathaniel was beyond repair. “It was incredible how much damage was done,” Dana said.

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