Lindenhurst Village Prepares for Hurricane Irene

Lindenhurst Village, fire, school and police officials met with Mayor Tom Brennan Thursday to coordinate the village’s storm preparation ahead of and plan of action during Hurricane Irene this weekend.

They were all very concerned about this storm.

“This could be one of the worst storms we’ve had, and it has a lot to do with the tide,” said the mayor.

“High tide will be here for a long time,” said Ray Fais, village emergency management coordinator.

“It’ll be high tide and it’s a new moon tide,” added Doug Madlon, deputy village administrator and deputy emergency services coordinator.

Currently, if Irene hits as a Category Two hurricane as predicted, the flood zone could extend from Great South Bay as far north as Montauk Highway.

“Friday we’ll know more, but we’re looking at getting the first bands of rains later Saturday afternoon,” Fais said.

“The best thing for residents to be is prepared,” Brennan said.

To get them prepared, the village began phoning residents with boats in the Lindenhurst Marina and south of Shore Road to remove their boats from the water, said Shawn Cullinane, village administrator.

The Department of Public Works is clearing out storm drains and garbage pails from Village Park.

It’s also ready to clear trees and other debris from the roads, said Tom Schirmuhly, the DPW’s head crew leader.

The Lindenhurst Fire Department is readying its equipment for the storm, noted Lindenhurst First Assistant Fire Chief Mike McCloud.

That includes the high water rescue truck, which is ready at the Lane Street firehouse, plus a pumper, several buses and several boats.

The main firehouse on South Wellwood Avenue will also serve as the village’s command center during the storm.

will be designated as an evacuation shelter, but the final decision on when to open it as such will take place Friday, Brennan said.

“It’s in coordination with plans set by the Red Cross, which might choose to activate larger evacuation centers farther inland, at larger high schools,” said Bob Cozzetto, the health & safety administrator for the school district.

Cozzetto stressed that the high school is more of a short-term safe shelter from the storm.

“If residents had to stay longer than 24 hours, then they’d either have to prepare it in advance with basic, limited food supplies to last a day, or, more likely, work with the Red Cross to transfer residents to larger evacuation centers," he said.

Based on a conference call with Suffolk County Thursday afternoon, Gil Hanse, part-time emergency coordinator for Babylon Town, said that the one designated for this area might be the Deer Park Junior High School on Old Country Road.

However, no firm decision has been made yet to evacuate residents, especially those south of Montauk who’re especially vulnerable to flooding.

Activation of the reverse 911 system, which alerted folks to the earthquake on Tuesday, was also discussed by village officials with SCPD First Precinct Chief Gerald Gigante as a way to alert residents in case of a possible evacuation.

Gigante also noted that First Precinct officers will supplement the village’s public safety and code enforcement squad throughout the storm.

Village, fire and police officials will also be coordinating the extraction of those residents who might get stuck in a flood zone, especially south of Montauk. No specifics were given as of yet.