Saturday 11/17, we were finally allowed to see what happened to our home in Ocean Beach, Fire Island (FI was one of the last areas to allow residents back). From everything we heard about the Jersey Shore & Staten Island and given how low lying and narrow Fire Island is - we feared the worst.

We were allowed on the island for only 3 hours. The goal was to assess damage and take back with us anything important that we could carry on the ferry (no cars are allowed on the island).

In terms of damage - there is still no power. The hardest hit areas appear to be the communities of Atlantique and portions of Ocean Bay Park. I did not make it to Atlantique, but several people I spoke with said it looked like a war zone. A breach between the Atlantic Ocean & the Great South Bay occurred in several spots on the eastern end of the Island. Some appear to be quite large. We will need to see if they become permanent.

But Ocean Beach appears to have fared much better. I even saw several Deer wandering around. There were a number of downed trees and quite a bit of damage from the flooding - the flood waters in Ocean Beach were about 3 feet deep and stretched from the ocean to the bay. The ocean water pushed large amounts of sand from the beach and dunes far down many of the walk ways. The most obvious structural damage to homes were to those that were right on the beach.

For a short while, these beautiful sandy beaches that so many people truly love were Sandys beaches. Now the message and talk is more about hope, renewal and rebuilding. In time, we will make these our beaches again.