Once the winds stopped howling, the rains stopped pounding and the waves stopped crashing, the city paused for just a moment to absorb the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy. The cleanup and comeback quickly began, even as questions as large and frightening as the next monster storm loomed: What will it take to repair, rebuild and reinforce a city determined to never again lose one light, one subway tunnel or one citizen to a weather disaster? The NYCity News Service, in an ongoing series of stories, examines New York’s return from Sandy, what we’ve learned in the storm’s wake and what it is needed to protect the city from the natural forces that staggered and humbled a world metropolis.