In one of the iconic images that have come to evoke Hurricane Sandy's devastation, a small Virgin Mary statue stands amidst a landscape of rubble, damp palms out in an expression of blessing or questioning toward the foundation of a ruined building at her feet.
She guards the ground where 135 homes stood before burning away in a six-alarm fire that blazed through Breezy Point, Queens the night Sandy made landfall, triggered by rising sea water contacting a structure's electrical wiring. The storm surge kept emergency crews from reaching the collapsing homes, while wind gusts of up to 80 mph and absence of rainfall conspired with the flames.
Sometimes one hard blow is easier to take in stride than the slow burn of a string of unfortunate events–although no lives were lost in Breezy Point, residents' lives were disrupted for more than half a year after Sandy hit on Oct. 29, 2012, as renovation efforts stalled due to zoning issues regarding city building permits and shifting flood maps.
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