After the Storm

The flooding has left a mess in Red Hook, Dumbo, Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island and other coastal areas throughout Brooklyn, and downed trees are everywhere. The cleanup has forced the cancellation of several events this week, including the Park Slope Halloween parade, and residents are scrambling to get their hands on pumps and generators. The Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District emailed to say affordable-housing providor Fifth Avenue Committee has put out a call for help. “At least three of their buildings in Gowanus and Red Hook have been severely flooded and they need to borrow generators and sump pumps,” the email read.
So far the death count is 22 in New York City, and it’s unclear how many took place in Brooklyn. You’ve probably seen by now a couple was killed in Ditmas Park while they were out walking their dog in the storm and a tree fell on them. In Dumbo Monday night, a building caught fire because of flooding, forcing an evacuation at the building across the street, technically not in the evacuation zone. As it happens, Anna Dorfman, the blogger behind DoorSixteen, one of our favorite old-house blogs, lives there and, incredibly, blogged the whole thing. That’s her photo, above, of the water outside her door, snapped as she fled the building with her husband and two dogs. Anna also took one of the photos of Jane’s Carousel that has been widely circulated and landed on the cover of the New York Times yesterday.
A neglected building at 951 Prospect Place also suffered damage from the storm. “Last night the storm collapsed the Brooklyn Avenue facade on the top floor, and rained debris into the sidewalk shed. Plywood has flown onto Prospect Place and Brooklyn Avenue. The shed itself is in danger of collapse as is the rest of the building,” said the reader who sent in the photo below.

A partial building collapse at 951 Prospect Place.

Debris left behind by flood waters in Sheepshead Bay.

A Battered Red Hook [NY Times]
Prospect Park After Hurricane Sandy [NY Times]
Brooklyn Battered by Hurricane Sandy [The Local]
8 Coney Island Officers Treated for Hypothermia [NY Daily News]
In Red Hook, a Handful of Sandy Evacuees [Daily Beast]
In Park Slope, Only Trees Felt Sandy’s Wrath [USA Today]
Brooklyn Cafe Cleans up Sandy With Eye on Sandwich Order [Bloomberg]
Brownstone Brooklyn: Shelter From Sandy [New Yorker]
Biking Brooklyn After Sandy [Bike Portland]
Brooklyn Heights Cinema Open During Hurricane [NY Observer]
Surveying the Damage in Dumbo [NY Observer]
Bar Owner’s Narrow Escape From Flooded Basement [Brooklyn Paper]
Dumbo Bookstore Under Water [Brooklyn Paper]
Storm Crushes Red Hook Artist, Businessman [Brooklyn Paper]
Bed Stuy Wine Shop Delivers Well Into Storm [Brooklyn Paper]
Significant Damage in Southwest Brooklyn [Brooklyn Eagle]
Sandy Day 2: Brooklyn Liveblog [Brooklyn Daily]
Photo of flooding in Dumbo by ©Anna Dorfman
Photo of debris-strewn sidewalk from Tri-State Weather’s Facebook page.