The Quiet Before the Storm

After listening to the news for several days, little seems to be said, about two neighborhoods that are an enclave - neighborhoods so close to Manhattan but are now hours away without transportation.

Brooklyn Heights, is a community high above sea level, this neighborhood was lucky and maintained electrical power. However, Brooklyn Heights is sandwiched between two neighborhoods built along the waterfront: to the South is Red Hook, and Dumbo is to the North.(DUMBO - Down Under Brooklyn Manhattan Overpass)

All three neighborhoods Brooklyn Heights, Red Hook, and Dumbo are generally minutes from the City, but in actuality are isolated neighborhoods that are working extensions of New York City’s life.

Red Hook is an older neighborhood, that began to rise in the last ten to fifteen years bringing in a more hipster-youth that wanted an opportunity to be near the waterfront, and bring to it their own flavor of distinction, with new night life, intertwined with the nostalgia of historic restaurants, deli’s, and bars.  Together the neighborhoods began to have an awesome quaint and savvy hood with Fairway Supermarket, and Ikea moving there and little stores with their own flare.

Now with the bridge and tunnel connection from NYC to lower Brooklyn – Red Hook the neighborhood has been waterlogged.

While the water level at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel has receded, there is still about 86 million gallons of fuel soaked liquid inside which needs to be pumped out.

The area known as Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Brooklyn Overpass); at the corner of Main and Water streets suffered about $80,000 worth of damage that is five feet of water that surged in with Hurricane Sandy…although according to the news, this wasn’t a hurricane but a tropical storm that obviously has given more thought to the environment and the weather colliding with warmer cycles.  

Weather patterns will be another topic of controversy; where to reside and how will insurance companies issue their resources should someone build their home near a waterfront area.