Kerri Walsh had always loved living near the water. Her house in Breezy Point had once been her grandparents’ summer vacation cottage, and Walsh, the literacy coach at Channel View School for Research in Rockaway Park, had lived on the same block for nearly 20 years.

So when Hurricane Sandy ripped through the Rockaways, Walsh was devastated.

“My initial reaction was shock,” she says of the damage to her one-story home, where she lived alone. “I knew that it was not going to be good. But I didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was.”

When she returned to her house two days after Sandy, Walsh had to wade through four feet of water to get inside.

“Everything was destroyed,” says Walsh.

Stunned, Walsh focused initially on clearing her home of debris with the help of family and friends. But although her house was declared structurally sound, Walsh was initially uncertain about whether she could face returning.

“I didn’t think I could go back to live there,” she says, becoming emotional. “In the beginning, there was a tone of not knowing which way to turn, what to do, how to handle things.”

Ultimately, Walsh decided, “I can’t just walk away. It’s my home.” Staying with her parents in Long Island, she has begun the painfully slow process of rebuilding and hopes to return home by next summer.

“Plans have to be approved,” explains Walsh, who is still waiting for permits after having had a first meeting with planners in July. “I have to find builders, and builders are very busy. Prices are much higher than they were.”

Despite her decision, some doubts linger.

One of her concerns is how different her house may look. Due to modifications to protect against potential flooding damage in the future, many houses in Walsh’s neighborhood — including her own — will be raised up to nine feet off the ground.

“It’s not going to be small little bungalows anymore,” Walsh says. “Some of the older people are saying, ‘Am I really going to climb nine feet in the air?’ That makes for a very different community.”

Her school, from which the students were displaced for two months, still bears damage from Sandy. Walsh, who coaches the junior varsity lacrosse team, notes that the school’s destroyed athletic fields have yet to be repaired.

Despite the ongoing challenges, Walsh is buoyed by signs that life is trickling back into Breezy Point.

“People are rebuilding and repairing. They’re excited to see each other,” Walsh says. “It gives everybody a little bit of hope. Slowly but surely, things are coming back.”