Long Beach residents, Elizabeth Murphy and Brian Martin rode out Irene last year in their home on Walnut Street.
“We stayed and so did everybody that we know because we did not think that it was going to be this bad,” said Murphy.
Dennis Demuth of Shore Road left Sunday night to stay with his daughter in Brooklyn and returned to get some of his belongings and empty his refrigerator.
“We are lucky because the water did not get into our apartment,” he said. “We were not as concerned with our safety as we were with our cars flooding.”
Stu Osnow and his family braved the storm and escaped unscathed. Unfortunately that is not the case for their home.
"The ocean was relentless, and it breached with the bay flooding 3-5 feet everywhere," he said. "It crashed through our garage wall on Shore Road. Cars were overcome everywhere they were parked to be on hire ground. Nothing in our memories prepared us for this outcome."
After cleaning out his family's home, Osnow piled items on the street.
"Strangers came by to take things from the piles," he said. "They had to be chased away. It wasn't trash. It was just a tangle of Christmas ornaments, chairs, balls, bicycles, tools and k nick-knacks that was carried away by water."
"Our building held, our apartment fine, the family is safe," he added.
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With reporting by Joley Welkowitz
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