Freeport residents share their nor’easter experiences

As a cold, driving wind lashed Long Island with rain and sleet Friday morning, the people on South Long Beach Avenue in Freeport seemed to tell the story through one street.

Familiar preparations

A worried Leo Waight, 61, stepped down into his basement, where he could see water coming up through the cracks in the concrete floor. He’s lived in this waterside community for 50 years. He remembers the smothering tides of superstorm Sandy in 2012, which ravaged some homes so badly they still sit vacant and condemned.

So he’s prepared.

“I have four sump pumps going,” Waight said.

But those only work if the power stays on.

He looked with worry on the puddles, noting they seemed to form in the corners of the room. He guessed that without those pumps, the water would be above his ankles. Lots of folks along South Long Beach Avenue — those who haven’t elevated their homes — have similar setups, he said.

Flooding fears

Across the street, Akilah Wright was just getting home from food shopping. She feared the worst: that the flooding might trap her family.

“I just hate the flooding,” she said.

She brought in plastic bags filled with the requisite storm supplies: eggs, bread, soup, juice.

An entrepreneurial outlook

In some intersections, water had pooled a foot high. The flooding intimidated drivers, even those in bigger vehicles. Several drove up to the edge of the water, saw that it had already crested the sidewalk, and shifted into reverse.

Down at the bottom of the street, Emilio Rivera, 43, parked his tow truck just outside the gate of the waterfront park. He was just waiting for some overambitious driver to get stuck in the deep puddles.

“Who knows what the tide will bring in?” he said with a smile.

Riding it out

Further up the street was fisherman Rocco Delvecchio, who planned on doing just about nothing this day. Conditions on the water were rotten, and besides, there hasn’t been many fish since the big freeze earlier this year, he said.

“Just hanging out and enjoying the storm,” Delvecchio said. “I got plenty of bourbon and plenty of cigars to go around.”

Turning serious, he said he was worried the flooding would worsen in the evening. It’s virtually a full moon so the tide is high.

“It’s going to be worst at about 9 p. m.,” he said.

Even so, he said, he has a whole series of pumps and generators.

By Craig Schneider

craig.schneider@newsday.comScraigo

Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.