Irene Barreled Through Barrier Island a Year Ago

The camera lights of local to international news stations shined on Long Beach when dark skies accompanied Tropical Storm Irene as she rumbled through the barrier island a year ago this week.

As the storm intensified early on Aug. 28, NBC’s Al Roker reported from the Allegria Hotel, where CNN’s National Correspondent Susan Candiotti asked Gov. Cuomo about the economic impact due to Irene during his visit to Long Beach immediately after the storm. The site of the hotel, at National Boulevard beach, featured the city’s most camera-worthy scenes, as surging ocean waters pounded right through 15-foot-high berms and carried Beach Patrol headquarters off its foundation and knocked it into the boardwalk.

Irene’s 70-mph winds and heavy rains wreaked havoc citywide, flooding streets and homes from North Park to the Canals, ripping up ramps and cinder-block walls lining the boardwalk, damaging the dunes in the West End, and downing many trees and electrical wires throughout. The Long Beach Fire Department responded to numerous storm-related calls, including two house fires, one in which firefighters stood in three-feet of water in the street to battle the blaze. Irene’s wrath left an estimated , many of them for several days. City officials said their preparations nevertheless mitigated the storm's damage.

“There was a lot of planning involved which lessened the impact,” said Scott Kemins, Long Beach building commissioner and fire commissioner, after the damage was assessed.

Prior to Irene's arrival, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano ordered a mandatory evacuation of Long Beach, as well as other areas of the county. At the time, Long Beach was preparing to host the  Quiksilver Pro New York competition, touted as the largest surfing event on the East Coast with $1 million in prize money. In preparation for the hurricane, Quiksilver crews had to disassemble the many stations, including the judges’ booth and a merchandise tent at National and Edwards beaches, which they had constructed the week before.

The competition was slated to include concerts and skateboard and motocross events, but after Irene the city cancelled the festival portion of the event. Former City Manager Charles Theofan wrote an open letter on Aug. 30, posted on the city’s website, citing the city's extensive damage as a reason to nix the Quiksilver festival and push back the competition.

“Having thousands of people pouring into this city starting Friday, with music and assorted frivolity, is not possible or appropriate given the current conditions,” wrote Theofan, who noted that more than 3,950 residents and businesses were still without power. “Yet with all of that we are proceeding with the surfing competition which was and is the heart and soul of the entire event.”

The competition was staged in early September, drawing an estimated 100,000 spectators to watch some of the world’s top surfers, including 11-time champion Kelly Slater and Owen Wright, the Australian who earned the top prize.

In the end, the city estimated that the storm caused more than $2 million in damages in Long Beach, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to reimburse the city about $1.7 million.

Last spring, the city received its first reimbursement check, in the amount of $4,400, for one of the first projects the prior administration submitted to the agency after the storm. Earlier this year, the city refurbished the Magnolia Playground, a park that abuts the boardwalk and was ravaged by Irene, as well as boardwalk ramps that were also washed away. In the weeks after the storm, the Beach Patrol Station was returned to its foundation.

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Today, as the peak of hurricane season nears, meteorologists believe that as many as three major storms are still possible this hurricane season, according to New York's WABC. Earlier this month, the local news station and the Long Beach Herald talked about hurricane preparations with city officials, who said they recently sent residents a hurricane-preparedness guide that features evacuation routes and staging area locations.

City Manager Jack Schnirman said the major project is to coordinate all levels of government and emergency responders to ensure seamless communication; LBFD Chief Rich Corbett noted that the fire department is working with upstate departments to deploy additional manpower, supplies, equipment and vehicles if necessary; and Public Works Commissioner Jim LaCarrubba said the city has ordered 3,000 sandbags and continues to check every department’s communication equipment and notification systems. LaCarrubba added:

“We’ve already checked all of the radios in our vehicles and we’re good. Police and fire are making sure their [communication systems] are working. We have a system to deploy additional communication in the event we lose infrastructure. We will also set up a phone chain so that if the city does lose key pieces of communication, everyone knows how to contact each other.”

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to hit Louisiana on Wednesday, may develop into a Category 2 hurricane, according to the National Weather Center. The City of Long Beach offers the following information on hurricane preparedness on its website:

Hurricane Preparedness Summer 2012

Hurricane Information