In the weeks following Hurricane Sandy, I traveled from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Staten Island to help community members rebuild their devastated neighborhoods. Perhaps the most poignant experience I had was helping to clean out the flooded basement of a single woman in Staten Island, named Rebecca. As volunteers, we sifted through the wreckage of personal effects in Rebecca’s basement making decisions, as strangers, as to what photographs, clothing items, and medical records were salvageable and which items were not. While Rebecca was gracious and very thankful for our help, her sense of loss was palpable. More than anything, I wanted to give her an assuring hug and let her know that all would soon be well again. The flooding would subside, and life would go back to normal. Yet, I couldn’t help but question whether this flooding, this damage, this loss of place, was going to be the new normal for Rebecca, her community, and similar at-risk neighborhoods throughout New York City.