Hurricane Sandy was our worst nightmare realized. This monster storm packed as much energy as two World War II era atomic bombs, causing massive destruction, the likes of which had not been seen since the Long Island Express of 1938, a now legendary Category III hurricane. Trapped on an island jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, we were front and center when Sandy attacked with a vengeance. Thousands of homes were inundated with seawater and sewage. Hundreds were left uninhabitable. Two and a half years later, we continue to rebuild our tattered shoreline. In this series we will look in the coming months at the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery’s ongoing effort to reconstruct worst-case homes, businesses and communities that Sandy ravaged on Oct. 29, 2012 — and the myriad issues that residents and officials face as they piece together our shredded infrastructure. At the same time, we will look at state and local officials’ efforts to reinforce Long Island in the hope that we might be able to withstand nature’s fury better when the next monster storm hits. —Scott Brinton, senior editor more

After a meeting on March 11 with U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York, and Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, of New Jersey, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate announced that the agency had agreed to reopen and review every flood insurance claim — approximately 144,000 — filed in New York and New Jersey by victims of Hurricane Sandy, and not limit corrective action to just the 2,200 claims that are now in litigation. more

Kate Hughes says that her 90-year-old mother, “Muzzy” — as she’s known to her neighbors and friends — has been victimized twice: once by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, and again, for the … more

A permanent keepsake I read Mary Malloy’s “Pretty in ink” column, in the Dec. 18-24, issue, with unbelievable excitement since I, a mother of two beautiful daughters and seven … more

I’ve got a pretty new ankle bracelet. It depicts my four children, with two blue hearts and two pink hearts representing two boys and two girls, and two smaller, dangling blue hearts for my … more

We had never seen a tempest the likes of Hurricane Sandy before, one so mammoth, so fierce, that it wiped out whole shoreline communities while leaving much of the rest of the Northeast in tatters, … more

In June, a proposal to strengthen Long Island’s waterways, starting with Mill River in Rockville Centre, was awarded millions of dollars in federal funding. The project, called Living with the … more

Jones Beach, a spit of sand with 6.5 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches, had no barrier island to protect it against Superstorm Sandy on Oct. 29, 2012. It was the barrier island, and so it took the … more

When Superstorm Sandy hit on Oct. 29, 2012, it devastated the South Shore. No storm in living memory had caused so much destruction. Though reconstruction is well under way, there are many who … more

Hurricane Sandy devastated much of the East Coast two years ago this week. Out of the storm came heartbreak, homelessness, financial woes and instability. But it also showed us what we can do as … more