Pier 40 car loss devastating
Dear Editor,
Around 8:15pm on the night of Sandy’s arrival, the Hudson River poured into our block, West Street between Morton and Barrow Streets, so fast that neighbors had to run to evacuate. Some residents of the garden apartments had to be rescued when the water rose over their heads in their apartments. There was a river flowing through the courtyard. We’d weathered Irene just fine a year earlier, and none of us saw this coming.
As I write this, more than a month later, the guys in the white hazmat suits are still clearing out the 28 destroyed apartments on our block. There’s been a noxious chemical-y odor hovering around. We’re getting rashes, headaches and allergy attacks. We don’t know if there’s a connection.
The West Village Houses maintenance staff have been tremendous in their response. Senator Tom Duane came by the Tuesday after Sandy; although I didn’t speak with him personally, other residents said he was very helpful.
Some of us who park at Pier 40 were lucky. We park in the North Side, on the ground floor, and earlier that day I moved the car as far away from the pier edge as possible. Tuesday morning, we saw the water and mud line about 2″ below the door. We might not ever know how many vehicles were totaled, but looking around the parking garage on Tuesday, the destruction was devastating.
Wayne Miller
Morton St
