The devastated New York couple, who lost their two young sons in Superstorm Sandy just over a year ago, have told how they still think of their children every single minute of every day.

Damien and Glenda Moore, who live in Brooklyn, have just marked the first anniversary of the deaths of their sons, Connor, four, and Brandon, two.

But Moore, who is African American while her husband is from Donegal, said every day since their catastrophic loss has been a struggle, as they attempt to put their lives back together.

And in an interview with local station WABC, she said that her mind has been constantly consumed with the memories of her two children, not least as the couple marked the first anniversary of their passing.

She said: "It's been a tough week, it's been a year since we lost the boys.

"Every minute, pretty much all we do is think about them."

Moore was driving to safety during the horrific storm when her car stalled  but was refused entry to a house before a wave carried her young boys away, despite her frantic efforts to save them.
Searches continued for days, before their lifeless bodies were tragically discovered just 100 feet apart.

The heartbroken couple have since moved from their former home in Staten Island to Brooklyn in order to be closer to their family there.

Moore said that the couple have tried to keep "busy during the day" as a means of coping with their loss.

And speaking of their former family home, she added:  "I couldn't spend another night at that house."

On that fateful night, Glenda Moore was turned away from one house by a man who refused to let her in. She clung to some railings but her children were snatched away at the height of the storm by the force of the winds.

Their bodies were found a few days later by police.

Her husband Damien, originally from Portnoo in Donegal, was a New York City employee working on hurricane disaster prevention at the time.

Father Philip Daly, a priest in the Donegal Parish of Portnoo, told the Irish Independent that the tragedy was very hard to accept, especially the failure of the neighbor to take the mother in.

"I think that what added to the awfulness of the situation was the lack of support."

He added there "was no support forthcoming from some of the people in that area, when Glenda went to the doors looking for help, where they basically closed the doors in her face so this compounded the awfulness of the situation."

The grief-stricken grandparents of the two boys were comforted by neighbors after the tragedy.
Glenda Moore left her home in Great Kills, Staten Island at 9pm to drive to her mother’s house in Brooklyn to seek safety. She packed her kids’ Halloween costumes into her Ford Explorer car.
However, the storm surge swamped her SUV and stalled it.

She jumped from the car with her two children and sought refuge in a nearby home where the owner refused to let her in.

Her kids were then torn from her at the height of the storm. She called out for them all that night, barely surviving herself.

Police found the little bodies three days later, in a marsh a quarter-mile away