Koorosh Leibowitz has seen the end of Eastland Drive flood enough times to know what happens when a storm arrives at high tide. So when the nor’easter brought water onto the East Island street over the weekend, he pulled out his kayak.
“I’ve been doing this since I was a kid,” Leibowitz said. “It’s a little bit of a tradition for me.”
Leibowitz estimated that the water reached a little more than a foot deep in some places, and perhaps a foot and a half in the deepest sections — enough for him to paddle around for about 20 minutes.
“It’s a little bit of kind of like a lazy river,” he said. “You’re not paddling.”
While Leibowitz was able to make light of the flooding, Glen Cove largely escaped the more severe effects of the nor’easter seen elsewhere on Long Island. South Shore communities experienced significant coastal flooding, with the National Weather Service reporting about two feet of inundation along portions of West Park Avenue in Long Beach and at least two feet in parts of Lindenhurst. Flooding near Island Park also disrupted Long Island Rail Road service on the Long Beach Branch.
In Glen Cove, flooding on East Island was among the storm’s more visible effects.
Leibowitz said flooding at the bottom of Eastland Drive is familiar to residents. An outfall near the bulkhead can become overwhelmed when high tide and storm surge push water toward the neighborhood, he said.
“You need to have the storm surge, so the tide is high enough to block that outfall down there, and then also if there’s intense rainfall,” Leibowitz said. “It’s basically the perfect storm, pun intended, for flooding.”
Still, Leibowitz said conditions elsewhere in the city appeared relatively mild.
“It wasn’t really too bad,” he said. “I think we fared pretty well here in Glen Cove.”
Fewer than 10 homes in the city lost power during the storm.
Glen Cove also avoided widespread tree damage, although Department of Public Works crews responded to fallen trees and branches. According to Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck’s official Facebook page, larger trees came down on Karen Road at Elm Avenue and at Austral Park.
Resident Joanne Yee had a close call when a tree limb fell on her property.
“A limb of a tree fell,” Yee wrote in response to a Glen Cove Herald Facebook survey, adding that it fortunately landed between sheds and a pool rather than crushing them.
The storm also disrupted weekend plans. Gracie Donaldson Cipriano canceled a garage sale she had been advertising since the beginning of September.
“I wasn’t sure what to do at first, but when I saw Deep Roots cancel I knew it was serious business because Deep Roots never cancels,” Cipriano said.
Her garage sale has been rescheduled for Oct. 24.
Downtown businesses also felt the effects as residents stayed home.
“As a small business in downtown Glen Cove, the weekend storm definitely affected our sales,” Trubee Hill wrote in response to the Herald’s Facebook survey. “What would have normally been a busy weekend with people shopping for fall items ended up being the opposite. Understandably people stayed home.”
For Leibowitz, flooding is part of living along the water and knowing which roads may become difficult to navigate during storms.
“It’s the island life, as we say on East Island,” he said.
