Forest Hills Gardens Damage

I walked through parts of Forest Hills Gardens today, and some of the immediate area around it. The damage there is some of the worst I have seen in the Forest Hills area, as you can see from these photos.

The West Side Tennis Club was badly hit.

The Forest Hills Tennis Stadium seemed unscathed despite a lot of damage in the immediate area surrounding it.

One of the hardest hit streets is Harrow Street, near Forest Hills Gardens. It is impassable and residents say they were told it will remain so for weeks.

Some Thoughts On Our Disaster

I just thought I’d share with you some thoughts I’ve been having about the disaster that’s befallen our community. Feel free to comment if you share any of these, or totally disagree with what I’m saying here, or have some of your own thoughts or feelings about the tornado/storm that you’d like to share.

1. I think I understand for the first time the complex emotions that people who experience disasters go through. Am I the only one who feels shocked that other people who live right here in the City, especially in Manhattan, or in the nearby suburbs, seem clueless about what we have been through? I have contacted friends who live there and who say they had no idea about what happened and seem to even shrug it off. This has me feeling quite frustrated.
2. I am absolutely amazed at the following: there were absolutely no reports in the media of people being injured from this storm, aside of course from the tragedy of the lady who died on Grand Central. How is it possible that at the height of rush hour with winds raging at 125 mph through Forest Hills, windows being blown out left and right in buildings, trees snapping and falling on cars, there weren’t a ton of people hurt? This is truly a miracle if I have ever seen one. If you have some theories on this, I’d love to hear it. All I know is I was in my apartment when the tornado went by and I cannot imagine how anyone outside could not have been injured or killed by it.
3. And lastly, did those builders back say 50, 60 or however many years ago, do a good job in Forest Hills or what?? I think we should all appreciate the quality job they did constructing our apartment buildings and other structures here in Forest Hills. Many of them, including my building, took the brunt of 125 mph winds quite well. There were a few seconds there where I really thought one whole wall of my apartment was about to tear away. But while the entire building rumbled for about 30 to 45 seconds, there ended up being little structural damage aside from a few windows being blown out.