Nassau remembers Superstorm Sandy with vows to be vigilant

Nassau County leaders Thursday night recounted the devastation unleashed a decade ago on Long Island by Superstorm Sandy and vowed to be ready for the next storm or disaster whenever it comes.

On the county's official day of remembrance Thursday, Nassau officials showed a video chronicling the flooding, the deadly winds, and the resulting damage, including waterlogged north and south shores and trees ripped from their roots across Long Island.

But even while remembering the destruction, officials said they have learned from Sandy how to prepare and protect communities if another storm should return.

"We've got to be prepared and recognize that every single day, we are only a moment away from something happening and a catastrophe of any sort," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said. "That's why we have to train to be ready."

Rabbi Shalom Axelrod recalled parts of Woodmere being underwater and waiting out the flood on the third floor of his home, until a flatbed truck rescued him and his family.

Blakeman said Nassau performed an emergency preparedness drill this month, after Hurricane Ian struck Florida, to test the county's response to emergencies like hurricanes, blizzards or active shooters.

Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D'Esposito, a former Island Park fire chief, noted the advancements in communities rebuilding from the storm as well as in preparation for first responders.

He described driving an engine through the flooded streets to a house fire, only to be unable to respond because fire hydrants were under water. The house was left to burn to save the rest of the block.

"We can never prepare for what we saw during Sandy," D'Esposito said. "Maybe we couldn't prepare for what we saw in Sandy, but we can do our best. Let's make a pledge to the 1.4 million residents in Nassau County, if we ever have to deal with a storm like Sandy again, let's vow we will keep the community safe."

D'Esposito described seeing the flooded community of Island Park and watching families gathering whatever they could salvage from their homes, carrying it in baskets on their heads. It was nothing he'd ever seen so close to home.

"It was complete and utter destruction," D'Esposito said. "It wasn't a Third World country, it was Nassau County."

Richard Corbett, the county's emergency management coordinator, said Nassau has increased training for first responders in assisting those with disabilities and in brought rescue personnel able to speak multiple languages.

He described the sand that blanketed Long Beach the morning after Sandy "like a sandstorm with concrete."

"I thought I prepared for the worst-case scenario," Corbett said. "I was wrong."

The ceremony was held at the Nassau County Police Training Center in Uniondale, which Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said was built to also operate as an emergency shelter for police families.

During Sandy, Ryder said, many officers' and first responders' homes were flooded while they remained on duty.

Ryder patrolled the county with 100 National Guard troops and 200 police officers to protect homes and businesses during Sandy.

Police were also dispatched from as far away as New Jersey to bring gas back to Long Island

"The lesson we learned from Sandy was to make us better for the next one. We know it will come, but we will be prepared," Ryder said.

Nassau County Fire Marshal Mike Uttaro said the county has improved coordination and computer dispatches to coordinate emergency response.

"We learned a lot of lessons from Superstorm Sandy," Uttaro said.