Lakewood horses nearly drown in flood waters

Four horses and a pony from West Hempstead’s Lakewood Stables nearly drowned at a Merrick day camp last weekend as heavy rains wreaked havoc across Long Island.

Sunday’s torrential downpour flooded Coleman Country Day Camp, which rented the horses for the summer, leaving parts of the property — including the stables where the animals were housed — under three feet of water.

“I got a call from [camp Director] Ross Coleman … basically letting me know that there’s water rising in the rear of the property where the horses were and the horses were up to their chest in water,” Stables owner Alex Jacobson told the Herald on Monday. “It was a potential drowning situation.”

Jacobson was particularly worried about the small pony, who was up to his neck in water. At around 10:30 a.m., Jacobson and a crew of four got to the camp, where four camp staffers were waiting to begin the rescue.

“It took two hours from start to finish to get them out,” Jacobson said of the horses. “We did first the pony and then we were able to do two horses, one following another one out, and the horses wanted to get out of there, so they were extremely cooperative. It was quite amazing, actually.”

It was also extremely dangerous, Jacobson added. The camp is located between a creek and a lake next to the Meadowbrook Parkway, parts of which were closed due to severe flooding. “The only way out [of the camp] is to go over two bridges, which were completely submerged, so you couldn’t see where they were,” Jacobson said. “One wrong step and you were in 12 to 15 feet of water.”

With the help of Coleman staffers who were familiar with the terrain, Jacobson and his crew managed to lead the horses to higher ground, and eventually back to Hempstead Lake State Park, where they are being housed temporarily until construction is completed at the Lakewood facility on Eagle Avenue in West Hempstead.

Jacobson demolished the barns at Lakewood in April to make way for a new state-of-the-art facility, which is expected to be up and running in the coming months.

“It was just a successful horse rescue operation,” he said. “It could have gone bad or it could have gone good.”

Local police and fire departments responded to the scene with emergency rescue equipment, including a raft, but “luckily we didn’t have to use them,” Jacobson said, noting that the horses needed to be evacuated immediately because the water was still rising.

Sunday’s rains closed a number of major roadways and caused train delays and power outages. More than 2,000 people experienced power problems, according to the Long Island Power Authority.

“We’ve been with camp Coleman for several years now … and nothing like this has ever happened before,” Jacobson said. “I showed up on the scene and I was in awe of how much water there was. I was walking through waist-deep water — it was at least a quarter-mile walk.”

By Monday, however, there was no sign that there had been such severe flooding at the camp, according to Coleman co-owner Marla Coleman. “It looks like nothing ever happened,” she told the Herald on Monday. “A lot of hard work and a little good luck, and the water receded and we worked through the night.”

The horses, whose stint at the camp is over for the summer, have also recovered from their traumatic experience. “We were really, really grateful that we got them all out of there in one piece and only one of them needed some medical attention,” Jacobson said. “They’re all doing great.”