Saturday, June 21, 2014

Many beaches still not open in Rockaway

From the Queens Courier:

Just because a beach is open doesn’t mean people are allowed to swim there.

As of Thursday, only 29 of the more than 100 beaches in the Rockaways are open to swimming because of damage caused by Superstorm Sandy coupled with a dearth of lifeguards, the Parks Department said.

The rest have “normal access,” which, according to the Parks Department, means people are allowed to walk in the sand.

“Swimming is only permitted where there are lifeguards, which is never the entire seven mile beach,” said Zachary Feder, a Parks Department spokesman. “But walking is permitted along the entire length.”

Superstorm Sandy caused major damage to the beaches along Rockaway, which now has the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working to repair many of them. They are using large pipes to pump sand from the ocean floor on to certain beaches which makes those specific locations closed to swimming.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

2 years and counting....Great job NYC . How is it that Jersey and L.I. beaches have been up and running for 1 year already? Oh, it must be that it's not an election year in NYC and politicians couldn't give a crap. Guess the Rockaways will have to wait 2 more years until the wind bags come out of the woods looking for votes.