On the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, BuzzFeed traveled to areas in New York and New Jersey affected by Hurricane Sandy to ask locals why they decided to stay.
Steve Tarpin, 56, owner of Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie in Red Hook, Brooklyn, baked and delivered his first pies after Hurricane Sandy just a month after the storm — one dozen pies for friends on Thanksgiving. Four months ago, they moved to a new, bigger location a block down Van Brunt Street on the waterfront. "Red Hook invited us here," Tarpin said. "We belong here."
Mike Hayes
Mike Dresser, 31, moved to the Red Hook section of Brooklyn three weeks before the storm, and three weeks after, he and his girlfriend still didn't have heat and hot water in their apartment. Dresser works as a bartender at Fort Defiance on Van Brunt Street on the Red Hook waterfront and said that the day after the storm the whole bar staff was out helping clean up. "Still a neighborhood of pirates and rednecks."
Mike Hayes
This couple's apartment in Jersey City was flooded, and they were without power for 10 days. "I love the view in our apartment, and I love New Jersey," she said.
Alison Vingiano
"I'm a New Yorker, born and raised, and I'm embarrassed," said Carlos Santos, 36, owner of Brooklyn Motorworks. Santos was forced to move his business after Sandy did irreparable damage to his motorcycle repair shop, which was flooded with four feet of water during the storm. He set up on the Red Hook waterfront, 10 blocks from his old location, in the only place that would make space for him he said. Santos says he was "sold a line of bullshit" by the recovery groups promising short term loans and financial aid, and has a 390-page S.B.A. loan application he's still waiting to get reviewed.
