By Jamel Rogers, staff reporter

Mother Nature has struck once again. The powerful, unforgettable, and historical Hurricane Sandy struck the Tri-state area on October 30th, 2012. Plenty of people lost their homes, power, and even lives. Power outages occurred from Seaside Heights, NJ all the way to upstate Rockland County, NY.

Some places, such as the notable attraction the Jersey Shore, were ripped to shreds and ruined. Even the ‘city that never sleeps’ evidently did have its resting period; lower Manhattan was empty and dark, the Holland Tunnel was severely flooded, and beaches were washed onto land, demolishing homes, vehicles, and communities.“The day after the storm, trees were all over, on cars, on houses, in the middle of the streets, and a tree landed on my house resulting in me have no power for only two days, but still it was misery,” 8th grader Natalie Kalamaras said.

Multiple situations occurred in many other various locations in New York and New Jersey. However, one place in particular that was affected detrimentally were the Rockaways Islands. Far Rockaway, Rockaway, and Breezy Point are surrounded by water, and suffered from serious water damage, long lasting power outages and even a gas wildfire in Breezy Point. These ruined precious residential units. The entire Peninsula of Rockaway that inhabits some 230,000 plus people, was blacked out the day of the storm, lasting two whole weeks, at the minimum for some.

“I lost my power as soon as the wind started to pick up, a tree basically fell on my cable line resulting in me having no power for an entire week and a half,” senior Abigail Bogle said. “The storm changed the lives of people affected forever. Even though it was two weeks, I feel this is a storm no one expected to come and commit so much damage.”

Although Hurricane Sandy was unexpected, the community as a whole came together to work things out and step ahead.