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Sandy Causes Millions Of Dollars In Damage To Historic Rye Playland

RYE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – Superstorm Sandy caused startling damage at Rye Playland.

The surge was too much water, even for the Flume log ride, CBS 2's Lou Young reported Friday.

The jumble of floating lumber up against the seawall at Playland used to be a boardwalk. Part of it was floating eerily just off-shore Friday, complete with lamp posts and benches as if waiting for someone to take a seat.

The destruction didn't stop there.

"It completely took out the north boardwalk and made its way into the Flume ride," Westchester County Parks Deputy Commissioner Peter Tartaglia said.

CBS 2's Young got a tour of the amusement park Friday from the man who runs it. It turns out the storm probably ended the life of the park's Flume ride and the Playland Plunge. It blew in the doors at the famed Ice Casino, perforated roofs, and moved things that are supposed to be immovable.

The surge also moved large paving stones, and buckled the parts of the boardwalk it didn't carry away.

As far as the rides go, the water came through, but didn't do serious damage to the seven historic rides at the park.  Still, there is an awful lot to do to fix the place up.

The county hopes the feds will pick up some of the $12 million price tag.

"There's some silver lining to this in that the federal government will help us with some of the reconstruction at Playland for the Ice Casino rink and certainly the boardwalk, and some of the other areas that were damaged. So we are going to get some help from Uncle Sam, but it's going to be done no matter what," Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said.

Despite the way it looks now, the county said its plans are for Playland to open up as usual in the spring.

Despite the damage to the park, the county is still negotiating with a private non-profit group to operate Playland.

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