Fighting Irish spirit emerges as the Rockaways stay strong and united after Hurricane Sandy

Rockaway's locals show strength in face of Sandy

Hurricane Sandy did her best to destroy the Rockaways, but the island’s fighting Irish spirit has come to the fore as Debbie McGoldrick discovered while meeting with the locals on Sunday.

Last Sunday was picture perfect in the five boroughs of New York City and beyond.  The sun shining brightly, high atop a brilliant blue, benign sky, it was an ideal day to enjoy the warm autumn temperature with a leisurely walk on the beach, or brunch at an outdoor café.

That’s exactly what residents of the Rockaway Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean in Queens would usually do on such a welcome day – that is, if they weren’t dealing with the crippling after-effects of a shockingly harsh Hurricane Sandy that ripped the physical structures of their tight-knit communities apart, but by no means deflated their determination to rebuild and emerge better than ever before.

“This is an Irish Katrina,” one Irish-born resident of the Belle Harbor neighborhood of the Rockaways told the Irish Voice on Sunday morning while waiting in a short, orderly line for a warm breakfast at one of the many centers where volunteers from all over the U.S. have lent a helping hand.

“But, you know, we’re not going anywhere. This is our place, and we’re going to rebuild and eventually we’ll be fine – eventually.”

Hurricane Katrina violently shook New Orleans and well beyond down to the ground seven years ago, and the very same can be said for the havoc that Hurricane Sandy wreaked on many parts of New York and New Jersey on Monday, October 29.

But talk about the worst of times bringing out the very best in people?  That’s the case all throughout the Rockaways and nearby communities like Broad Channel and Howard Beach which were also devastated by the storm’s wallop.

For decades the Irish have made the Rockaways their home away from home – not for nothing is the island known as the Irish Riviera. The Rockaways, bordered by the Atlantic on one end and Jamaica Bay on the other, are a year-round base for many Irish American families, and a fabulous summertime playground for the rest of us – Hamptons views and beaches without the Hamptons pricetag.

Seeing the beach streets right off the ocean packed with mounds of sand and large wooden chunks of the famous Rockaway boardwalk was a jarring sight on Sunday morning.  

The streets were full of furniture and other personal possessions destroyed by the storm, but the locals are truly remarkable people who, first and foremost, are glad to be alive and thankful that they still have each other.

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Nster.com