From the Daily News:WHEN QUEENS was battered by severe storms and two twisters 10 days ago, neighbors banded together to help each other until the emergency crews showed up.
But what happens if your neighborhood covers more than 200 acres and is populated by the dearly departed?
Several cemeteries in Queens faced that problem last week as they struggled to recover.
City cleanup workers won't venture onto these properties unless the damage was done by a street tree.
Things were in such disarray at Mount Hebron and Cedar Grove cemeteries in Flushing that workers discovered a highway sign from the Van Wyck Expressway and a portable toilet.
"I'm not sure where it came from," Jerry Hass, president of the Cedar Grove Cemetery Association, said about the portable toilet.
"We're just lucky that it happened at 6p.m. and not 2 p.m. Anyone out on the grounds at that time would have been killed."
Hass said he was heartened to receive calls from administrators of other cemeteries offering help.
It's unclear whether cemeteries such as All Faiths, which is nonprofit, will be eligible for disaster aid.
Photo by nutrichris on Flickr
1 comment:
St. John's in Middle Village was another cemetery decimated by the tornado. Mighty headstones toppled by mightier branches. That said, it seems that cemeteries could just as easily buy chainsaws and rent wood chippers and take care of their own messes, given how much a plot of land costs in this city.
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