Cleaning Up After Sandy

On Monday, Save the Sound and Bank of America partnered together to help repair Silver Sands State Park in Milford. The Silver Sands area was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy—some residents even lost their homes. Within the
park, the recently-built boardwalk was destroyed, and large quantities of hazardous waste (paints, oils, bleach) washed up on the shore.

The 4,000-foot boardwalk connecting Silver Sands to Walnut Beach suffered heavy damage in the storm.

A dedicated group of employees representing shoreline Bank of America branches from Old Greenwich to Milford volunteered for the unconventional cleanup. They began by filling an entire 1-800-Got-Junk? truck with large debris that was left behind by the incredible storm surge.

The cleanup crew then split up to assist park staff with various jobs from combing the wrack line for smaller flotsam to digging holes and replacing park signs that were torn down in the storm.

There is a lot of work left to do. Connecticut’s state parks will need time to recover. The neighborhood, and others along the shoreline, face a tough road in choosing how best to rebuild and to avoid damage from future storms.

We hope to schedule more events this fall or in the spring to remove environmental and safety hazards and aid shoreline communities in their cleanup efforts. If you would like to join our volunteer email list, please contact Save the Sound’s Kierran Broatch at kbroatch@savethesound.org.

Posted by Kierran Broatch, outreach associate for CFE/Save the Sound