City measures progress almost 7 years after Hurricane Sandy

Flooding in Breezy Point in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Photo courtesy of FEMA

By Victoria Merlino

The Hurricane Sandy recovery effort continues in earnest in New York City, according to the newly released Mayor's Management Report. 

Sandy devastated parts of New York City in 2012, including Queens’ coastal areas like the Rockaways and Breezy Point, and efforts to rehabilitate the impacted homes, neighborhoods and infrastructure have been ongoing. 

The Modular Construction Program, first launched in 2017, has sped up construction of homes destroyed by the storm. In Queens, 68 prefab homes were constructed and set on their foundations, and 31 were built on Staten Island, according to the report. In the program, said the report “all but eight homeowners” have yet to return to their homes.

The Modular Construction Program was initiated as a way to speed up the delayed Build it Back single-family program, which was created to assist families with returning to their homes after the storm. As of June 2019, the program has served almost 8,300 homeowners, representing 12,500 families across the floodplain. 

The Department of Transportation has nearly restored nine of 12 movable bridges damaged by Sandy, and of the three left with substantial work to be completed, two are in Queens. The Long Island City’s Borden Avenue Bridge is 90 percent complete, and the Grand Street Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Queens, is 60 percent complete. 

The report also noted the $128 million in design work going into Sandy-damaged NYCHA buildings. City Comptroller Scott Stringer recently sent Mayor Bill de Blasio a letter inquiring into NYCHA’s preparedness if another “storm of the century” hit.