Sandy’s Carnage: Belle Harbour, Queens

When you live close to the ocean, and a storm comes, it means trouble. When you live with an ocean two blocks one way and the bay a couple of blocks the other way, it means double trouble.

When superstorm Sandy arrived at Belle harbor, Queens, a small town close to the ocean with a vibrant Jewish community, it basically washed over the entire area, with up to 5 to 10 feet of water.

Rabbi Levi Osdobo, Shliach in Belle Harbor and rabbi of the local Shul, was not at home during the storm. Mandatory evacuation was ordered for that area, and although some people from his community stayed home, there was no loss of life B”h (although some people had some very close calls).

Now the community is picking up the pieces after the storm, in some cases literally. Some people had their homes destroyed, and almost everyone had the basement and in some cases first floor flooded.

A number of people’s homes burned down when a gas station blew up. The scene, with slabs of concrete and remnants of the boardwalk strewn all around, gardens and streets destroyed, is reminiscent of a war zone.

Rabbi Osdobo’s house, which also serves as the Belle Harbor Torah Center, was filled with some 5 feet of water. This effectively destroyed everything on that floor, including offices, a bedroom, Chanukah; Pesach and other Yom Tov storage, a fridge, freezers, an oven, and much more.

In addition to cleaning up, the entire floor and walls will need to be stripped to get it back in order again.

Meanwhile, as a Shliach, despite his own troubles, Rabbi Osdoba is directing a salvage and help effort for members of his community and others. Volunteers from Crown Heights are at his Shul, going out with pumps and generators, warm food and clothing; they are assisting people to get things back together again.

Meanwhile, in addition to the costs of running the salvage effort, there are high costs of replacing the lost things and bringing the house back to order.

Being that this area was not considered a flood area, there is no mandatory flood insurance. As such, the regular insurance does not cover the flood damage.

Any and all help would be very much appreciated.

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