Gourmet Food Trucks Feed Storm Battered And Starved Coney Island Residents

Coney Island took a beating from Superstorm Sandy. Way down by the Atlantic Ocean at the south end of Brooklyn, flooding and high winds exacted a heavy toll on the seaside community. Most residents are still without power, and gasoline and food are scarce.

Several gourmet food trucks normally enjoyed by the Midtown Manhattan lunch crowd made tracks for NYC's battered amusement park district yesterday to hand out food to the hard-hit neighborhood. Many people were already waiting in lines at FEMA's food distribution points.

JP Morgan Chase footed the food truck bill, and the trucks served everything from sausage and peppers to Korean-style tacos to thousands of people. Chase told the Wall Street Journal that it also sent food trucks to the Rockaways and Staten Island — areas of the city that also sustained heavy storm damage.

If you've never been to Coney Island or don't know much about it, a lot of people live there — more than 50,000. Many live in high rise buildings that have been without power for a week. I don't have to tell you what happens when a bunch of people are crowded together in one place without services. Things can get messy.

Most Coney Islanders were evacuated during the storm, but many have returned to find the place in disarray. The iconic Cyclone roller coaster and Parachute Drop are still standing, but homes and businesses in all directions are in bad shape. Much of the boardwalk that serves as the spine of Coney Island's summertime commercial activity was swept away with the storm surge.

We hope Chase keeps those food trucks on standby, just in case the Nor'easter headed up the coast right now compounds damage from last week's storm.

Photo credit: Getty Images; Associated Press