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Overcast Oceanside and Island Park brace for Irene
Many residents ignore evacuation order as hurricane approaches
As Hurricane Irene bears down on Long Island, many in Oceanside and Island Park are preparing to evacuate. Yet many others are securing their homes and preparing to ride out the storm.
Nassau Count Executive Edward Mangano issued a mandatory evacuation late Friday that included Oceanside and Island Park. He encouraged all residents – especially those on the barrier island – to evacuate by 5 p.m. Saturday, before the worst of the storm hit Long Island. But even though the evacuation notice was given, many residents have opted to instead stay in their homes.
“I’d say we still have three quarters of our population staying,” said Island Park Mayor James Ruzicka. “They’re paying attention, they’re not just sitting around doing nothing.” Ruzicka said that he saw many residents boarding up their windows and getting ready for the storm.
The Island Park Fire Department has already evacuated most of its trucks to School 6 in Oceanside, away from where most of the flooding should be. A skeleton crew is staying at the fire house (which is already boarded up) with only three trucks: one pumper, one rescue truck and an ambulance.
The IPFD will be responding to calls, but not during the height of the storm. “If the winds get to be 55 miles per hour, we can’t go out,” Ruzicka said, explaining that winds in excess of that would put the crews in danger. “That’s the cutoff.”
The Village of Island Park had recently done away with its reverse-911 phone call system due to the high cost and problems the village was having with it. Ruzicka said that the fire department was driving around the village this morning notifying residents about the evacuation.
When the storm hits late Saturday night, it will must likely be during high tide on a new moon – a time when low-lying areas in Island Park would already experience some flooding. Ruzicka said that, with the added swells and rain from the storm, he expects 90 percent of the village’s streets to flood.
Ruzicka will be riding out the storm in the fire house, he said, which will be the village’s command center.
