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Photo by Lizzy Ratner
On Monday, October 29, 2012 prior to the touchdown of Superstorm Sandy in New York City, Anthony Narh, a Ghanaian immigrant (photograph above) was called in to work at Empire Parking, an underground parking garage located near the watery edge of Tribeca in Manhattan.
Little did Narh realize that within hours the underground parking garage for which he was employed would become his watery grave once the banks to the Hudson River burst.
The Toyota Land Cruiser in which Anthony Narh, an immigrant from Ghana, futilely sought refuge as the Empire Parking garage was inundated during the storm. Image courtesy of Marcus Yam for The New York Times.
As the winds picked up and debris was flying up and down TriBeCa’s narrow streets, Anastasia Ratia, an architect and designer who lives with her aunt at 92 Laight Street, a high-end building adjoining the garage, ran into Narh and a co-worker. Ratia and her aunt had already evacuated but were making a last-minute run to the building; Narh, who was in his late fifties and walked with a severe limp, was just arriving for work. (At the garage, he was known as Jackson.)
‘I said, what on earth are you doing here?’ recalled Ratia, 34, who grew emotional as she recalled the story. ‘And he said, I was called in to come.’ When Ratia asked whether the garage’s manager had asked Narh to come in, Narh placed the responsibility higher up. ‘He said, ‘No, the big boss.’ And I just said, that’s craziness. They’re just cars!’
When the Hudson River burst its banks several hours later, the water raced toward the garage and trapped Narh inside. He never made it out….
….A resident of the luxury building above made his way down to the basement to check the building’s pumps, and heard an unexpected sound: the voices of two garage workers who had not evacuated.
The resident, Roger Greenberg, said he remembered yelling, ‘You guys have got to get out of here!’
Only one man made it.
As his co-worker climbed the stairs to safety, Anthony Narh stayed behind, seeking refuge in an early-model, two-door Toyota Land Cruiser. The Fire Department found his body there the next morning….
This is one of those tragedies that occurred during Superstorm Sandy that could have been avoided. In addition, it pays to note that a mandatory evacuation was issued for all low-lying areas, which included the building and garage in which Narh was employed.
92 Laight Street Tribeca New York New York (Approx rent $9500 per mo.)
Because of series of bad decisions, a wife is now a widow and children are without their father.
It is my opinion that whomever ordered this man to come into work that day even though the City of New York had been declared a State of Emergency only did so because of the famous tenants residing in building adjacent to the garage, i.e., Meryl Streep , Gwyneth Paltrow and model, Karolina Kurkova.
The death of this man is unforgivable. Someone clearly took advantage of him and the co-worker who was lucky enough to escape the waters flooding into the garage.
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