By JOSEPH KELLARD
The scene of Benowitz's analysis was Long Beach City Hall last Thursday, where Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg convened a 13-person panel - comprising mainly emergency management personnel from Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead, various villages and the City of Long Beach - to inform citizens of their need to prepare for such storms and officials' plans to protect them.
Benowitz was among 70-plus residents from the barrier island and surrounding communities, such as Island Park, Oceanside and the Five Towns, who attended the afternoon meeting at City Hall. During the question period, he noted how, during the nor'easter that ravaged Long Island in 1992, he used the Meadowbrook to evacuate, but state troopers diverted him off the parkway due to heavy flooding. Benowitz also noted that when heavy rains fall, certain intersections of Austin Boulevard, particularly at Trafalger Boulevard, experience extensive flooding.
Island Park Mayor Jackie Papatos, a panelist, warned the barrier island residents in the audience that if they evacuate via the Long Beach Bridge, they can expect to find flooding in Island Park. "You may be on the beach, but we're under sea level, and so you have to prepare for that," Papatos said.
Weisenberg told Benowitz that raising roads where flooding is routine will be part of new evacuation plans that he and others are working on. In 1993, following the nor'easter the year before, Weisenberg and other government officials put together a barrier island evacuation plan that he now calls "all wrong." Nevertheless, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Weisenberg admitted that putting one's safety in the hands of government is a shaky proposition, but insisted that it must be part of protecting citizens from weather-related catastrophes.
Two overriding themes emerged from the panelists' brief talks: when a Katrina-like storm is headed our way, residents must evacuate two to three days before it is projected to hit land, and those who fail to evacuate shouldn't expect emergency workers to put themselves in harm's way to rescue them.
Weisenberg noted that the barrier island has approximately 48,000 residents, but only four gas stations and three evacuation routes. "Are we going to be able to meet the needs of our population?" Weisenberg asked. "The answer is no. ... No one is safe on the barrier beach. ... We have to be out of here two or three days before a Category 2 or 3 hurricane hits the island."
"It's hard to get people to focus on hurricane preparations when the sun is shining," said Michael Balboni of the 7th Senate District. "That's part of the difficulty with evacuation."
Balboni explained that there are typically 20-year cycles of either relatively good or bad weather, and that a bad cycle is upon us. He predicted that the area is due for a major hurricane within the next decade, citing projections from meteorologists. Such a hurricane, known as "The Long Island Express," hit in 1938, killing 600 people and leaving 6,000 residents homeless in what was then a mostly rural area. "That kind of a hurricane today would cost untold billions," Balboni said.
Underscoring Weisenberg's introductory remarks that firefighters are volunteers, and would be busy evacuating their own families during a storm, Richard Rotanz, commissioner of the county's Office of Emergency Management, told residents that during a serious storm they "cannot expect to put our firefighters, police and EMTs in harm's way." This is another reason why residents must prepare to evacuate early, Rotanz said, telling listeners that they must have evacuation plans that include staying with friends or family or in shelters, where they should bring food and clothing.
Nassau Community College, which would be set up as an evacuation center, could accommodate 5,000 people, and the Nassau Coliseum is available for more serious storms, with a capacity of 30,000. One resident said that another large shelter might be considered other than Coliseum, which he claimed is prone to leaks.
Dennis McCabe, a clerk for the Village of East Rockaway, stressed that nor'easters, which can hit in the dead of winter, are probably more dangerous than hurricanes, which generally come in late summer or early fall. "Just because 'Eyewitness News' says it's Nov. 1 and hurricane season is over, that's probably when we should be most worried," McCabe said, noting that the greater danger is that residents may have their heating systems knocked out.
Doug Shearer of KeySpan/LIPA's emergency management office addressed various issues regarding restoration in the wake of storms. He noted that gas must be turned off in emergency storm situations because of potential "explosive situations"; that over the past five years, KeySpan has been working on ways to remove downed lines more quickly from streets so that people can evacuate more speedily; and that the drawback of burying power lines underground is that it takes longer to fix and restore service if it is knocked out.
Regarding communications, Shearer said that LIPA has an essentially storm-proof satellite communications phone system and other high-tech equipment that it shares with the county. John Baroni, emergency manager for the Village of East Rockaway, said that his village is working on getting more local radio stations to provide traffic reports during storms.
Earlier, Baroni had stressed that the people most at risk must be identified so plans can be made to evacuate them, and Cheryl Chapman of the Long Beach Medical Center said that since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the hospital has become more prepared for emergencies such as biological and chemical attacks, and has improved its procedures for evacuating the elderly and infirm. "We all see what happened to the people of New Orleans who stayed in place," Chapman noted.
Chief John Frasier of the Long Beach Fire Department said, "School planning in Long Beach is spectacular, not just for hurricanes but all emergencies."
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