Long Beach Residents Ride Out Storm at Farmingdale Shelter

Greg Lukas of Long Beach and James Riley of Bay Park stood in the open gym doors watching the rain from Hurricane Irene hit Saturday at the evacuation center at Farmingdale State College.

"This is the first time I've left Long Beach before a storm in 31 years," Lukas said.

The city resident added that some of his neighbors chose not to leave and didn't seem anxious about the hurricane.

"I'm curious to see what happens tomorrow and if they were right," Lukas said.

He took one of the last buses from Long Beach to the shelter at Nassau Community College. That shelter was full, so his bus continued on to Farmingdale State.

In the house before the hurricane started to hit, Riley biked from his apartment in Bay Park to Nassau Community College. He was then loaded on a bus to the evacuation center at Farmingdale State College.

"I wanted to ride my bike the whole way but they wouldn't let me," he said Saturday night at the shelter.

Riley called the mandatory evacuation policies being enforced on Long Island "a little ridiculous," but said he was worried about the impact the tidal surge would have on the property he rents.

He was also worried about work on Monday.

"I may get a double whammy since I work in Elmont, an area that always has drainage problems," he said.

Both Lukas and Riley said that the conditions at the Farmingdale shelter were fine, but that they would be leaving as early as they safely could on Sunday.

The Koton family, who evacuated their home south of Merrick Road in Bellmore, also plan to leave the shelter as soon as it is safe to on Sunday.

"We prefer not to be here but it made sense to evacuate," Steve Koton said.

Koton's basement flooded a few weeks ago, so he is concerned that the storm will exacerbate the situation. Before he evacuated his family, he cleared out the basement, but he's still worried about water damage.

Koton brought his wife, son and mother, who lives in Long Beach, to the Farmingdale shelter late Saturday afternoon. He is one of more than 325 others at the shelter who evacuated their homes because of Irene.

"It's what we were told to do," he said. "I figured why take a chance?"