Marines overcome hurdles, aid in storm cleanup

Marines overcome hurdles, aid in storm cleanup
Marine Corps Times
By Gina Harkins
Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Nov 13, 2012

NEW YORK — Jimmy Cioffi has lived in Staten Island, N.Y., for more than 25 years, but he can hardly recognize his own neighborhood.

The smell of rotting trash lingers in the air, wafting from garbage piled 10 feet high in the streets. Power lines hang down onto sidewalks; cars perch in unnatural places. Slippery thick brown mud cakes driveways and basements, brought in by the waves and storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy, which pummeled the region Oct. 29-30.

Cioffi’s basement filled with water all the way to the ceiling and then up two more feet onto the main floor. His brother’s family, a few blocks away, had to sit in their attic for 15 hours before a boat came and rescued them, the lower levels of their home inundated.

“There was no chance to get out once you saw it coming,” Cioffi said. “When I saw the water coming under the door, I put towels down and they just washed away — it was like a river.”

Within days of the superstorm, which left homes destroyed, cities flooded, millions without power and scores dead, Marines were counting up their capabilities, preparing for a deployment within their own country. But before they could roll in to help, there were bureaucratic hurdles to be cleared. There’s a precarious balance between the quick response of military personnel in the wake of a disaster and the constitutional restrictions they face in getting troops on the ground.

And the Marines were quick to arrive on scene.
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