City Officials to Residents: Leave Long Beach!

City officials continue to urge Long Beach residents to evacuate the barrier island before the brunt of Hurricane Sandy and high tides arrive later today.

“Listen, I know that you are hesitant to leave,” said City Manager Jack Schnirman to city residents through a News 12 reporter and cameraman at National Boulevard boardwalk at 11:10 a.m. Monday. “I know that you said you left during Hurricane Irene and you didn’t need to. But right now we are seeing flooding that is going to be far worse.

“So what that means is before the high tide this evening, you have a few hours to go ahead and make plans and go stay with loved ones and friends and family outside of the city,” he continued.

Nassau County Ed Mangano announced that the height of the storm surge on Long Island is expected between 7 and 11 p.m. Monday. 

Schnirman announced that the city has buses to transport residents to shelters at Levittown High School and, if people have pets with them, at Mitchell Field in Uniondale. The announcement on the city’s Facebook page states: “We are still sending buses around to the west on the hour and to the east on the half hour, running until 2:30.”

The storm has not yet even arrived and the city has already seen “significant flooding,” the city manager said, and with the high tides generated by a full moon tonight, city officials expect the flooding to become “extremely serious,” with the ocean and bay waters converging on the barrier island.  

Schnirman said that during the flooding and as high winds intensify, it’s going to be “very difficult” for the city’s first-responders to get to people in their homes in cases of emergency.

City Councilman Michael Fagen said that Hurricane Sandy is unlike Hurricane Irene, which slammed the city in August. 2011.

“Irene was a big storm, but what Jack was saying before and what people need to understand, all the people that are still here, is that we just passed the first high tide,” Fagan explained. “We saw flood levels that were the same levels that we saw at the height of Irene. We’re already breaching on the bay in the West End and over in the Canals, and tonight the high tide is just going to be an historic event for the city.”

On Long Beach Patch's Facebook page, Kristin Ahrens wrote during the 11 a.m. hour that the flooding was "really bad. We just left Long Beach and police tried to block off the bridge due to the flooding in front of it. And if you get over the bridge the flooding is worse in Island Park! Don't even attempt to go through without a truck!"