“Hurricane Sandy: Before And After” Photo Exhibit

Photo by John Noble, courtesy of John Warren

A fascinating and revealing photo exhibit is being unveiled at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Queens next week, detailing Superstorm Sandy’s impact on the Gateway National Recreation Area.

The exhibit, dubbed, “Hurricane Sandy: Before and After,” will open on Sunday, January 27, between 3 and 5 p.m. It features photographs taken by National Park Service (NPS) employees in a large format, two feet by three feet, detailing Sandy’s destruction on the park.

“While these pictures demonstrate damage, the take-away message should not be one of doom and gloom, but rather one of resilience,” stated Superintendent Linda Canzanelli in a press release. “There is still a lot of work to do and some things have changed forever. But the park is reopening, the natural areas will rebound and park visitors will be welcomed back.”

The extensive photography undertaken by NPS employees was part of the greater recovery effort which also included clearing road, moving sand and moving trees. The effort to stabilize the area after the events of Sandy has been described as the largest incident response in National Park history.

If you’d like to see the exhibit when it opens on January 27, head over to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor center located at 1oo Cross Bay Boulevard in Queens. The exhibit will be open daily, free of charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., until the end of March.