While the “Living Breakwaters” can’t stop flooding, they will reduce daily erosion and damage from future storms. Almost nothing stood in the way of the pounding waves that crashed into seaside homes in Staten Island’s Tottenville neighborhood when Superstorm Sandy struck the city 12 years ago. A narrow strip of sand, some beach scrub and a few lonely trees did almost nothing to slow the ocean swells as they collapsed houses and ripped others from their foundations, killing a 13-year-old girl and her father.But after years of work, a system of artificial reefs largely completed this summer could help soften the blow of future hurricanes.Funded with $111 million in Sandy recovery money, the “Living Breakwaters” constructed about 1,000 feet (300 meters) off the Tottenville beach were conceived to protect residents from future storms.