Photographer Documents Hurricane Sandy’s Startling Effects on Garden Landscapes

It takes years of gardening, pruning, and shaping to create and maintain the identity of a neighborhood. In one day, this foundation of hopes and dreams was swept away in the flood waters of the hurricane. During the months of recovery it did not become as apparent as when the spring season arrived as to how much Sandy had changed the landscape.

The dead trees appear everywhere in the neighborhood and have become a daily reminder of the devastation that took place here. Homeowners, who had to deal with repairing and replacing the contents of their homes, had no choice but to put fixing their exterior properties on hold as they recover their living space. It’s been almost a year since the storm, and still my neighborhood has yet to fully recover. These photographs provide testimony that as with the change of seasons, there is hope for renewal but it will take a very long time.—Laura Glabman

As we approach the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy on October 29th, Long Island-based photographer Laura Glabman reminds us of the devastating effects of the superstorm that claimed almost 300 lives in seven countries and was the second-costliest hurricane in US history. In an ongoing series she calls The Spring After the Storm, Glabman turns the lens on her own neighborhood to document the changed domestic landscape, now characterized by more dead trees than not. And while with damage comes recovery, for now she documents what stands before her—a stark contrast to what was before.

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