Hurricane Sandy ~ 3

10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
10.30.12 ~ Eastern Point Beach

The picture above shows that the storm surge was still relatively high. There is a sidewalk just behind that white fence and the water never comes up to the top of the wall like it is in this picture. We were planning to make our way over there to snap even more pictures, but the police suddenly decided it was time to have all of us leave the area so the city workers could start operating their equipment to clean up the beach! If we had anticipated that happening we would have gone out there first off and worked our way back.  🙂

10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
10.30.12 ~ Eastern Point Beach

In this picture you can see that a portion of the white fence is missing (left of center), and a bit of the wall with some of its top missing. In the summer this stretch of sand is covered with mothers chatting under umbrellas, their children playing, blankets, towels, beach balls, shovels and buckets – I had my place among them – and senior citizens reclining, dozing or reading in deluxe beach loungers, enjoying their time in the sun…

10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
10.30.12 ~ Eastern Point Beach
10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
men at work, collecting chunks of stone for the payloader to haul away
10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
remnants of the wall
10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
sand and rocks deposited in front of Zbierski House
10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
many rocks landed in the playground
10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
waves still crashing over breakwater, wall, ramp and stairs
10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
debris rammed into corner of wall and parking lot
10.30.12 ~ Groton, Connecticut
section of wall in the foreground moved across the sidewalk
10.30.12 ~ Eastern Point Beach

Although we were amazed to see the damage done by Superstorm Sandy here on our little part of the Connecticut shoreline, we know that New York and New Jersey had it far worse and our hearts go out to them. It is truly heartbreaking to see the TV footage of the devastation they are enduring while we sit in the comfort of our living room.

However, I have a hard time feeling much sympathy for the people in the wealthier beachfront areas of Connecticut. Many of their homes were destroyed in Hurricane Irene just last year and they foolishly rebuilt at the same locations, and were wiped out again this time.

Recently I read an article that referred to a “way of life that was based on a mindless materialism oblivious to nature and its boundaries.”* I think this is a case in point. Mother Nature is delivering us a strong message about where we should not be building our homes. Climatologists say we can expect more of these super storms in the near future and rising sea levels in general, due to global warming.

During the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, all the summer cottages and much of the land at Bluff Point, here in Groton, were swept away by the storm surge. Nobody rebuilt there. The newly formed peninsula became a state park. It seems like the most sensible response to such a loss. When will we stop stubbornly resisting the forces of nature and start trying to live in harmony with them?

*”Power of Nature” by Gitte Larsen, Søren Steen Olsen, and Steen Svendsen, Utne Reader, Nov-Dec 2012