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The Day After Hurricane Sandy Hit Connecticut

Happy Halloween.

Yes, that’s a pumpkin on the beach. I captured this image yesterday when we went to see how the shoreline fared after Sandy. See those big waves? This is the Long Island Sound … we don’t get big waves in the Sound. But after the hurricane, the waters were still very rough.

Again, the Long Island Sound. With waves.

Along the way, there were little reminders of the storm the night before. Signs down and mangled, like this one on the Merritt Parkway.

The Halloween display at a farm stand in Monroe, Connecticut, blown and a little smashed. The good news is that most of their display was unscathed. I hate to see small business hurt.

Sturdy fences blown down by the sheer force of the winds. But this isn’t the worst of it. Far from it. In more communities along the shoreline here in Connecticut and also in New Jersey, boardwalks were washed away, houses were destroyed and folks that had just rebuilt from Irene are facing another long year of recovery.

There is comfort in the fact that help is coming. Officials are working with power companies to restore power. Backhoes are putting the beach back where it belongs. Banks and grocery stores and restaurants are coming back to life in our town and across the state. But there was so much loss along the shorelines — restaurants, businesses and homes badly damaged.

Water was high in the Pootatuck River that runs through Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Back on the shoreline, the Long Island Sound rose to the tops of garages (see the water line at the top of the white doors). There is so much cleanup, repair and replacement needed. I spoke with a woman yesterday whose two cars were drowned in water during the storm and wouldn’t stop. Other cars parked on her road were fine — but hers were badly damaged.

Even after the storm, there was one more very high tide for the shoreline yesterday. The waters crashed into walls and flooded into streets. People were asked to evacuate again. It didn’t rise as much as it had at the height of the storm, but it still spilled onto roads and rushes past homes.

Connecticut will be okay. We are okay. My thoughts and prayers are with all the people impacted by the storm. May we all get back to normal as soon as possible.