“A young policeman told me that when the decision was made to abandon the 60th Precinct, which is half a block in from the beach, the water was over their heads and the last officers had to swim out. Most of those officers have been relocated to a neighboring station house and have been working twelve-hour shifts ever since the storm. Hundreds of officers from other areas of the city have been “flown in” to help out. The large apartment buildings and housing projects do have power, but most of the smaller buildings don’t. The only businesses that are open near the beach are mechanics’ garages, using power from generators, working on waterlogged cars. The Cyclone, Nathan’s, and the boardwalk are all damaged, closed, and dark.”
Read more of police offer Mark McPherson’s Letter from Coney Island.
