A year after Hurricane Sandy brought the city to a standstill, officials warned Tuesday disaster could strike again — but vowed to be better-prepared the next time.
Gov. Cuomo highlighted the state's efforts to shore up its defenses as he weaved through sites stunned by the superstorm .
At the Whitehall St. subway station, the governor viewed a new flood-proof aluminum-and-steel barricade.
Such measures might help prevent the devastation he saw a year ago when he could only watch the Hudson River overtake the West Side Highway, filling the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.
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"That was a feeling of powerlessness and fear, frankly, because you didn't really know when it was going to stop," he recalled.
Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News
Breezy Point on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.
"It is a warning, and I want New Yorkers to remember what we went through," Cuomo said. "It would be a mistake if we let our guard down and we said, 'It will never happen again.' It will happen again. You have to assume it will happen again."
Mayor Bloomberg acknowledged many New Yorkers are still haunted by traumatic memories of that day. "A year ago we endured the worst natural disaster ever to strike our city," Bloomberg said.
"The question on everyone's mind on this first anniversary of Hurricane Sandy obviously is, are we better prepared now for storms like Sandy than we were a year ago? And I think the answer is, unconditionally, yes," he said.
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Bloomberg marked the somber day with a three-borough tour of hard-hit areas in Staten Island, the Rockaways and Brooklyn.
Wearing boat shoes for the occasion, Hizzoner ventured into the sand in Staten Island to inspect new dunes under construction — until a construction worker warned him to step back as a surge of water came rushing over.
Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News
Mayor Bloomberg (second from left) and Veronica M. White Commissioner (in pink), head of city Parks & Recreation, walk Crescent Beach in Staten Island.
"Mayor, it gets real wet here," the worker told him. "You're not really dressed for it."
In Jamaica Bay, Queens, Bloomberg toured a tidal gate being built to prevent floodwater from backing up into storm sewers — another example of efforts to make existing structures storm-resistant.
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Mayoral candidates Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota cast away partisan politics — at least for the day — to commemorate Hurricane Sandy and the resilience displayed by those who were affected.
De Blasio made the rounds in Brooklyn and Staten Island, appearing at a vigil in Midland Beach.
"The people of Staten Island should feel an eternal pride for the way they stood up for one another," said the Democratic candidate.
JB NICHOLAS for the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Chelsea Clinton with St. Bernard Project breaking ground Saturday on 'Resilent House' for Hurricane Sandy victims.
Republican hopeful Lhota, the head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority when Sandy struck, refused to take shots at his rival while planting dune grass in Breezy Point.
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"I'm not going to use this as a day to politick," he said .
A year ago, Cuomo called the former MTA boss a "hero" for his work getting the subway system up and running — but Lhota has not featured that endorsement in any of his advertisements.
"I'm running on the future, I'm not running on the past," he said.
The day wasn't only about politics and bad memories.
Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News
The community of Breezy Point, at the end of the Rockaway Peninsula, was hit by fire and water during Hurricane Sandy — but its residents did not wane.
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In Breezy Point, Mari Mack, who lost everything during the storm, decided to mark its anniversary by camping out overnight on the land where her house is being rebuilt.
"It's kind of a celebration of everything coming back together down here," said Mack, 58.
And 14 families had the best reason of all to rejoice as they gathered at NYU Medical Center to celebrate their babies' first birthdays.
Moms like Tamar Weinstock of Long Island City remembered giving birth by the light of glow sticks and flashlights.
Weinstock delivered baby boy Stone at 10:39 p.m. during the hurricane, and less than an hour later was strapped to an orange plastic sled and whisked away to Mount Sinai Hospital.
"It was an adventure," the beaming mom remembered.
With Erin Durkin, Jennifer Fermino, Heidi Evans, Matthew J. Perlman and Pete Donohue
clestch@nydailynews.com
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