Though I don’t cover Oceanside and Island Park anymore, I still think about the communities, and the people I know there, almost every day. I wonder how they’re recovering from the storm. I saw the devastation, and I still only have the slightest inkling of what people were, and still are, going through.

As we approach the six month anniversary of the storm, I know people are still putting there lives back together. There are a lucky few who have purchased new cars and repaired their homes. But there are still many who are living in hotels or hollowed-out homes undergoing construction.

I hope the people of Rockville Centre truly appreciate how lucky they are. I know there were power outages in some spots, and I know downed trees blocked some roadways and damaged some houses. But the damage in Rockville Centre was nothing compared to Oceanside, Island Park and Long Beach.

Rockville Centre was only a few away from the flooding that devastated so much of Oceanside. It’s amazing what a difference such a short distance can make.