Island Park feels Irene’s punch

Lawrence Gubelli has lived in Island Park for all 86 years of his life. He was 13 years old when Long Island was hit by its historic hurricane in 1938, and he remembers it well.

He also remembers that the flooding then wasn’t nearly as bad as what was caused by Tropical Storm Irene this past weekend.

“The only other [storm] I could say that we had a lot of water was [Hurricane] Gloria in 1985,” he said.

Gubelli explained that, back in ’38, Island Park was much less developed and had more marsh land, so it was easier for water to dissipate. Now, however, the water flows through drainage pipes, and they can’t handle the large volume that Island Park was hit with.

“Flood-wise, the damage was very bad,” said Island Park Mayor James Ruzicka. “Every block had water. Every block.”

With all of the streets flooded well into Sunday, some residents who evacuated had trouble returning to their homes. And some who stayed were locked in by the water.

Many Island Park residents took to the “Island Park Community Group.” Those who had stayed were posting updates and photos from the area, and those that had left were able to ask for updates for their homes. Ruzicka estimated that one third of residents evacuated.

The wind took a few trees down in some areas, but the water was the cause of most of the destruction in Island Park.

The village was instructing residents not to return before 3 p.m. on Sunday, as many streets were still flooded. Some areas, like the streets surrounding the Francis X. Hegarty Elementary School, did not have a chance to drain before high tide came again on Sunday, keeping the water where it was. Those areas were drained by Monday afternoon, though.

“Now it’s a matter of cleaning up a lot of leaves and a lot of branches all over the place,” said Ruzicka, who had three feet of water in his basement. “We’re going to be working overtime and trying to get everything back to normal in a couple of days.”

The Island Park Fire Department evacuated most of its trucks to Oceanside before the storm hit, leaving one pumper, one rescue truck and one ambulance in the village, along with a skeleton crew at the fire house (which also served as the village’s base of operations during the storm). After the worst of the storm had passed, the IPFD was responding to calls using one of its inflatable rafts.

“Our fire department did a fantastic job,” Ruzicka said.

It will still be a few days before the village is able to assess all of the damage sustained during the storm. As of press time, there were still 547 power outages in Island Park, according to the Long Island Power Authority.

“We’re cleaning up and drying out,” said Ruzicka.