February 18, 2013

Submerged "superstorm" debris

The local news in NY has been covering this story since Sandy hit. The storm dragged many surprising things into the waters of NJ, NY and CT -- and they pose a danger to boaters and swimmers. Here's an excerpt:
Cars and sunken boats. Patio furniture. Pieces of docks. Entire houses. A grandfather clock, deposited in a marsh a mile from solid land. Hot tubs. Tons of sand. All displaced by Superstorm Sandy...

The sunken debris presents an urgent safety issue. Swimmers could cut themselves on submerged junk, step on one of thousands of boardwalk nails ripped loose, or suffer neck or spinal injuries diving into solid objects. Boats could hit debris, pitching their occupants overboard, or in severe cases, sinking.
The story focuses on NJ and CT but the problem is equally bad in the waters off Long Island. Think of the effort needed to clean this up. The income of many storm-battered residents depends on the trade generated by idyllic shorelines and marinas. This is an additional disaster for them.

Note: I lost the link to the original story. The link provided above leads to a much shorter story. Drat!

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