Hurricane Sandy

The Rose Kennedy Greenway, like all other New England parks, experienced the force of Hurricane Sandy Monday and into Tuesday.  Before the Hurricane struck, our staff took steps to minimize any damage.

Umbrellas were removed and stored for the season on Thursday and Friday of last week.  The umbrellas are tall and have a heavy base to prevent much movement during daily operations, but we knew they’d be no match for hurricane force winds.

The Carousel. Fanelli Amusements, who own and operate our rental carousel, had made the decision last week to remove the carousel for the season prior to the storm’s expected arrival on Sunday night.  On Saturday, they decided to move the disassembly and removal to 10 am Sunday morning.  They completed their work by 3 pm Sunday afternoon.

Tables and Chairs. On Sunday, our non-profit partner Work, Inc. collected and stored all of the tables and chairs from the North End Parks.  On Monday morning at 7 am, Our Maintenance and Horticulture staff gathered and stored all remaining tables and chairs, sandbagged any drains to limit soil and gravel runoff, and secured all of the container plants to each other and nearby structures.  Preparations were completed by 11 am and storm began in increase in intensity afterwards.

Aftermath.  In the end, Boston experienced high winds (gusting to over 60 miles per hour) and rain and a good sized storm surge but nothing compared to the experiences of New York City, Atlantic City and much of the New Jersey coastline.

Storm Surge at Fan Pier / Fort Point Channel

We lost one tree and several other recently transplanted trees needed to be re-staked.  Transplanting efforts will continue beginning Thursday, November 1st.  We consider ourselves to be very lucky, if the main body of the storm had been 150 miles closer, we’d be looking at a very different result.