A tiny, tight-knit beach enclave hammered by Sandy

"This is what I call salvage" said Chris Hannafin, jumping across what was once was the front wall of his friends’ oceanside cottage. For hours, he and friends had been racing against the clock and the rising tide to claim mementos, bureaus, pillows and even a toilet and carry them to higher ground - away from the cottage now only inches from the encroaching sea. Neighbors and friends - some silently wiping away tears - surveyed the damage Hurricane Sandy had inflicted on a close-knit summer community called Roy Carpenter’s Beach in Matunuck.