The Military Veterans in Sandy’s Aftermath

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Helping Our Veterans in Sandy’s Aftermath

December 3, 2012 - Pedro Correa has been in many situations where he thought things could suddenly go horribly wrong. He’s spent thirteen years guarding New York’s most violent criminals at the state’s maximum security, Sing Sing correctional facility, rising to the rank of sergeant. When he was a first responder on September 11th, he would have run into the second tower had a bloodied man not stopped him for assistance first. When he was performing convey security in Iraq in 2003 as a soldier in the 773rd Transportation Company, enemy mortar fire fell as close as 100 yards from his truck. But according to Pedro, he never felt certain he was going to die until the night of October 29th of this year. That was the night, with Hurricane Sandy battering the home Pedro remodeled with his own hands, “the shack we turned into a mansion,” as he calls it, Pedro called his wife to say goodbye.

That night, after having sent his wife and children away in preparation for Hurricane Sandy, Pedro and his brother watched as the house was torn apart by the violent storm surge. With water levels rising, the two men climbed, and then swam, up two flights of stairs. The brothers then broke the legs off the kitchen table and used it as a raft. When the tabletop sank, the brothers managed to cling to a neighbor’s roof as it floated by. That rooftop became entangled to debris, prompting the men to hop from board to board until ultimately they were forced to swim, even with Pedro’s broken rib. Half an hour later, they were finally taken in to safety at another home.

By the time Sandy’s winds blew past Pedro’s Staten Island community and her flood waters receded back into Lower Bay, he had lost $150,000 worth of possessions, the home he turned into his own by hand, and was still responsible for a $450,000 mortgage. read more>>>