'Mean Irene' delivers a punishing blow

I remember when the real estate agent first took my wife and me to what would become our home in south Merrick nine years ago. We pulled up across the street from the quaint split-level, with white shingles and an aging gray roof. We instantly fell in love.

Like most buyers, we had a checklist of what we wanted in a house. Hardwood floors? Check. Fireplace? Check. Deck? Check. Backyard? Check.

What ultimately sold us on the home, though, were the trees out front. There were two 65-year-old sycamores, one in front of our house and one in front of the neighbor to the left, with short, thick trunks and branches arching over the street. There were also two maples, one to the right and one across the street.

Hurricane Irene, which was downgraded to a tropical storm when it reached Long Island two Sundays ago, ripped all four trees from the ground, sending them hurtling into the street. We weren’t at home to witness them crash. We live south of Merrick Road, in an evacuation zone. We went to my aunt’s house in Stony Brook to ride out the storm.

I couldn’t fathom Irene’s power, even as a tropical storm. These magnificent trees were such sturdy specimens, so alive. But there they were after the storm, lying on their sides, dead, their roots tangled up in the broken sidewalk.

One of the maples slammed through a neighbor’s new PVC fence. The sycamores fell into a driveway across the street. Miraculously, my neighbor’s car, which was parked there, was untouched save for a few minor scratches on the roof. On Monday I helped my neighbor cut his car out so he could drive it out over his lawn to ensure that it didn’t suffer damage when the road crews came to chop up the trees.

Joe Baker, president of the South Merrick Community Civic Association, was on the phone with the Town of Hempstead and the Long Island Power Authority throughout the day on Tuesday, asking that this terrible mess be cleaned up ASAP. I was out covering other people’s storm stories at that point, but my wife said that Baker, who lives down the block, stood at the corner of our street like a sentinel, keeping an eye on things. Hempstead Town Highway Commissioner Tom Toscano met with Baker, promising swift action, which he delivered.