Another Sandy Casualty: NYC Bees: Eighteen deaths in New York City, more than 100 homes burned at Breezy Point, Queens, a tanked subway system, flooded homes, crushed cars and fallen trees: Hurricane Sandy has taken a serious toll in New York City and a new report reveals even bees suffered during the extreme storm.
An urban farming project in Brooklyn Grange's Navy Yard lost 25 hives containing some 1 million bees. Winds tore apart the hives as Sandy bore down on the borough on Monday night.
"There was little we could do without a Herculean effort," Chase Emmons, a managing partner and the chief beekeeper at Brooklyn Grange.
These also were not just any bees. They had been donated by a Pennsylvania beekeeper and had been bred to have extra hearty genetics — tailored to the New York City environment.
"This puts us back at least a year," said Emmons.
