Chunks of dried bark had fallen, lying on the ground like driftwood. Trees that had stood tall and strong for decades leafed into twisted creatures, part green, part scorched. Well into the height of summer, hundreds of branches remained dark and barren.
In storm-damaged neighborhoods throughout the city, where homes have been repaired, furnishings have been replaced and millions have been spent on recovery, another toll of Hurricane Sandy is becoming starkly clear. Trees, plants and shrubs are dying by the thousands.
Since the spring, the city parks department has inspected nearly 48,000 trees in flood zones, including coastal areas like south Queens, south Brooklyn, the Rockaways, Coney Island, Staten Island, and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. More than 6,500 trees have shown signs of stress and abnormal leafing. Roughly 2,000 have been presumed dead. And those numbers do not include trees on private property. The city plans to take the dead trees away by the end of the year and have most of them replaced, said Liam Kavanagh, the first deputy commissioner of the parks department. The total cost is hard to estimate, said Mr. Kavanagh, until contractors' bids come in.
The extent of the damage was unanticipated, he said. "These are trees that last year for the most part were completely healthy, normal city trees," said Mr. Kavanagh. "To see so many of them with little or no leaf coverage, and at this time of year, it is surprising."
On the Lower East Side, ghostly branches arch over the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive. In nearby East River Park, there are dozens of trees, with few or no leaves, some seemingly with only a single strand of garland. One afternoon last week, a toddler played at a sprinkler, a woman read on a bench, and joggers trudged by under trees that evoked winter.
In Howard Beach, trees in full bloom stand next to lifeless ones. "It does leave a mark," said Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach civic association. "You go down certain streets, every other tree looks half dead or dead."
Residents in Mill Island, now a sick ward of weeping cherries, withered maples, washed-out shrubs and ailing plants, are worried about the costs to replace the trees they own, some or all of which are not covered by insurance. There is also the loss of the leafy canopies that cooled the streets, and the increased threat of falling limbs. "You had the green branches and the trees just covered the street," said Sol Needle, president of the Mill Island Civic Association. "And who knows if they're coming back?"
Mr. Sinesi, a 52-year-old dentist who works out of his home office on East 66th Street, has so far thrown away about a dozen bronze-colored shrubs.
The replacement plantings have already died. He has kept the evergreen that he and his father planted years ago. And he holds out hope for two towering trees in his backyard that have sprouted a few wayward leaves. "In theory, some of it is still alive," Mr. Sinesi said. "The question is how much is still alive, and next year whether they will come back worse or better."
For now, he said of the grim landscape, "it's a constant reminder that we've still not recovered from the storm."
Saltwater is thought to be the culprit. Salt can damage plants, said Bill Logan, a Brooklyn-based arborist, by drying out the root systems.
Why some plants survived and others did not remains a mystery. Mr. Logan says it depends on the species, and how much stress a plant was under before the storm. Where privately owned plants may be coddled, "a street tree has to fend for itself, and they're very resilient," he said. "Until something like this happens."
It is hard to say which of the ailing plants and trees might recover. "We're in the position that perhaps medical doctors were in the Civil War, we don't have a lot of things we can do," Mr. Logan said. "It depends how much resilience is left in them."
The city will monitor thousands of trees through next year, giving them more time to heal before they make a decision on their condition.
"God bless, but what's the tree population?" asked Mr. Needle, referring to the city's plan.
Trees that are outside the flood zones, like those in parts of Mill Basin, the neighborhood adjoining Mill Island, have not been inspected. Mr. Kavanagh said that anyone with a concern about a tree should call the city information line, 311.
Sissy Lief, who had four feet of water pour into part of her home, spent about $45,000 to rebuild, she said, much of which she had to borrow from her brother.
Ms. Lief, whose husband of 43 years died last year, recently got an estimate to remove the dead shrubs and trees from her lawn. Fifteen hundred dollars. "I can't do that," she said, standing in her doorway overlooking the patchy lawn landscape with its carriage-shaped flower box. "The way it has been for the last year, I can't cry no more."
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