Hurricane Sandy uprooted a more than 300-ton oak tree across the street, slamming it into a London plain maple tree in front of our home, causing it to crack open. These trees continued to loom over our home on live Consolidated Edison wires for 11 days before we received any physical help.
A disaster relief truck full of out-of-towner loggers — from Texas, Mississippi, Florida, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Missouri — passed our home Nov. 4 and saw the destruction. A city Parks Department employee, who was serving as a supervisor, emerged and, after a brief plea for assistance, we were told we were not on their list but he added us due to the dire circumstances.
We were advised they could not cut down the trees, since Con Edison never disconnected the power. Instead, they were able to cut down branches entangled in the trees, now acting like torpedoes with the wind, to prevent any further damage to our home.
When the cherry picker went up into the air, our family watched a true professional at work. He was like a surgeon with a chainsaw, extremely meticulous about what branches he cut and how he cut them — especially since he was near lives wires. He was even careful about where he dropped the limbs, thereby causing the least amount of damage to our home.
They told us they would be back to offer us more help, and two days later they arrived early in the morning. They secured the looming trees as much as they could to help us get through the nor’easter we were set to face the next day. On Nov. 8 at 6 p.m., a second crew of men arrived at our home, this time from Georgia. They saw the tree still looming over our home, so these men immediately went to work and safely removed the tree.
These men were a ray of light during a horrible week from hell and were our family’s guardian angels. From the bottom of our hearts we thank them and have sincere love and admiration for these men and the jobs they do.
Additionally, we would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone), who was the only elected official who provided immediate support to our family. Within minutes of us reaching out to Halloran, he arrived at our home to exam the damage, take photos and talk with us.
For days he continued to call the appropriate agencies and served as a voice for our family.
The Daleys
Auburndale
