Former Lynbrook, East Rockaway resident experiences Irene, Sandy and Florence

When Hurricane Sandy struck the South Shore in October 2012, damaging so many East Rockaway residents’ homes, Erin Castellano decided to help.

Living in Lynbrook at the time and on a three-week break from work while her office was repaired, Castellano kept residents informed about relief efforts with her “You Know You’re From East Rockaway When . . .” Facebook page, and bought supplies for her neighbors. She also organized volunteers outside New York to help.

“She really started the whole sort of Facebook group mobilizing,” East Rockaway resident Dan Caracciolo said of Castellano. “She was kind of like a pioneer in that regard.”

Now Castellano is the one in need of relief. In April, she and her family moved to Wilmington, N.C., which was flooded earlier this month in Hurricane Florence. Her former home in East Rockaway was also damaged by water during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, forcing her to move to Lynbrook, where, just over a year later, she lost power in her house for about a week after Sandy. Now, roughly five months after moving to Wilmington, she faces Florence’s aftermath.

The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Sept. 14, and dumped 24 inches of rain in the Carolinas. The 110-mph winds caused between $17 billion and $22 billion in property damage, according to Moody’s Analytics. As of Monday, more than 30 people had died in North Carolina because of the storm.

As of press time, Castellano said, Wilmington schools remained closed, two and a half weeks after the storm. For a few days, she had been unable to leave the port city. For days after the storm, she said, stores had little food and few necessitites on their shelves, and there were long lines at gas stations.

“It’s like Sandy all over again, but without most of my friends and my family,” she said. “The rivers are cresting; the streets are flooded. Wilmington became an island, with no way in or out, which means no food, no gas [and] no supplies. [It’s the] same thing as being trapped on Long Island.”

Castellano said the situation had begun to improve, and noted that power was restored to her home on Sept. 21. She also said that local stores were stocked with more supplies, and that some roads had opened.

It “should be getting better day by day as the flooding subsides a little bit more after each tide cycle,” Castellano said.

But the area is still recovering. Some people still did not have electricity and might not for another two weeks, she said, while some neighborhoods remained flooded, and the state was still under a state of emergency.

A local helping hand

Bryan Lorenzo, the Lynbrook Titans Football Club president, said the group wanted to help. In 2012, organizations donated to many of the football players’ families who were suffering because of Sandy. “The Titans would like to give back and do the same” in the Carolinas, Lorenzo said.

He contacted Renée Masters-Brown, whose daughter, Chloe, started a grassroots movement to encourage people to donate to relief efforts, about holding a drive for Florence victims. Masters-Brown said she liked the idea, and contacted the Massapequa Lions Club, which is sending a truck filled with donations to the Carolinas.

With help from State Assemblyman Brian Curran’s office, the two organizations are collecting canned food, medical supplies, pet food, gift certificates and cleaning supplies. Donations will be accepted at Curran’s office, at 100 Merrick Road in Lynbrook, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.