Scenes from LI recovery effort
YAPHANK/Full plates for many emergency workers
The smell of sauerkraut Monday filled the underground bunker where officials in Suffolk County have been toiling round the clock since Irene threatened Long Island.
Life in the windowless Suffolk County Emergency Operations Center pulsed before and after the tropical storm struck. They coordinated evacuations. They monitored forecasts. They made sure shelters were stocked with cots and food and water. They dispatched buses to ferry the displaced to the shelters. They ensured critical-care facilities on the brink of blackout had electricity.
And more.
"It's the job we do," said Joseph F. Williams, Commissioner of the Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services. "We slept here the first couple days -- the little bit (of sleep) we got."
The menu provided by the county jail Monday included hot dogs, potatoes and the sauerkraut. To some, it was dinner. To others, breakfast.
For many of the multijurisdictional, makeshift workforce from the federal, state, town and county agencies, the bunker became home. Some slept with pillows and sleeping bags they brought with them. One disaster-recovery staffer slept in his truck.
In a darkened room next to the kitchen was a row of thin, pale-blue mattresses on loan from the county probation department. It was a break room for fatigued emergency workers to get a bit of shut-eye before returning to work.
Monday afternoon, two workers went into the dark room and got into two beds.
"Good night," one said to the other.
It was 2 p.m.
-- Matthew Chayes
SAYVILLE/Twin Linden trees downed by wind
The King and Queen of Benson Avenue reign no longer.
The title was bestowed by Patty Larado, 56, on the twin Linden trees that towered more than 80 feet above her Sayville home. On Sunday morning Laredo and her husband Steve watched in horror as the trees started falling toward her home.
"It was scary," she said. "Everyone ran toward the back of the house."
But the trees got caught in a twist of wind, she said. One toppled onto another tree that caught it, while the other slowly fell toward their driveway. The Larados were able to move their cars out of the way before the tree slammed onto their driveway.
"We were very, very lucky," she said.
Tom Hake and his tree service crew spent Monday afternoon chopping up the fallen trees.
"This storm got some beauties," he said. "A lot of oaks, hickories -- these are very hard trees. Usually it's the maples and pines that come down in a storm."
Larado said she was saddened by the change in her landscape, but thankful her house suffered only a small dent in a gutter.
"The fall will be a much easier cleanup for me," she said. "There will be a lot less leaves."
-- Denise M. Bonilla
AMITYVILLE/Boy's lemonade stand enjoys boost
While Tropical Storm Irene inconvenienced the younger set on Amityville's Folkstone Road by shutting off the television and hot water -- and slamming a door on John Schlinger's thumb -- it also created an entrepreneurial bonanza for the 8-year-old and his friends.
The downed trees blocking nearby South Bayview Avenue meant more traffic for the lemonade stand the group set up on the corner. Monday's revenue topped $25, according to John's sister, Samantha, 12.
"We never usually get any customers at all," she said of the summer's earlier thirst-quenching efforts.
"Now everyone's coming through here," said Grant Meyer, 13.
Plans for the rest of the day included treasure hunting on the beach where, John said, toys and lawn furniture likely had washed up.
When night falls, they might go inside. "If we hook up the generator, we can watch a movie, turn on the lights and use the oven," Samantha said.
-- Nicholas Spangler
WESTHAMPTON/Store owners relieved by minimal damages
"It's like nothing ever happened," Nadine Hampton, 49, said a day after Irene blew through the East End.
The owner of the Mustique clothing store on Main Street in Westhampton had taken the protective plywood off her windows Monday morning and was hoping for customers after losing a weekend of sales.
Many Main Street business owners returned to their shops and restaurants Monday to assess and clean up any mess. Sand bags remained in front of some places, but damage was minimal.
"I'm definitely relieved," Hampton said. "I lost a lot of money this weekend. But I could be dealing with damage to the floors and my inventory."
She said her husband, Joe Milo, 55, had to shut down his restaurant, Joe's American Grill, for about an hour and a half Sunday night when the power went out. When the lights came back on, the customers were gone.
"Fortunately, all we lost is business," said Suzanne Marchisello, 70, owner of O'Suzzana's gift shop on Main Street.
But even one weekend hurts when the busy season lasts just from the Fourth of July weekend through Labor Day weekend, she said.
-- Kery Murakami
NORTHPORT/Resident finds silver lining in fallen trees
Chris Hughes, 58, found a way to make the best of Irene.
Driving on Warner Road in Huntington, he saw a makeshift sign on an old piece of plywood painted with the message: "FIREWOOD 4 FREE."
He jumped out of his GMC pickup truck and looked over the pile of cut and stacked tree trunks.
Hughes spotted Chris Schwartz of Premier Tree Service in Farmingville, overseeing workers clearing a backyard of damaged trees, and asked if the wood was indeed there for the taking.
Schwartz, 33, told Hughes he could have it all, and Hughes started tossing wood into the bed of his pickup.
"It's good wood. Locust," Schwartz said.
"There's even walnut," Hughes observed. Hardwoods, like locust and walnut, are preferred for firewood, he said, because they produce less creosote buildup than soft woods such as pine.
When his pickup was full, Hughes drove to his construction site in East Northport, got a bigger truck and returned to Warner Road for more free wood. In all, he got about a cord-and-a-half that he said he'd split and dry.
"We'll burn it in the winter for heat," he said. "It'll save about $150 a month in heating bills."
-- Gwen Young
FREEPORT/Boats at Ocean Marine doing OK
The 90 boats at Ocean Marine in Freeport escaped the storm virtually unscathed and Paul Balabus, the marina's vice president, credits it to preparation.
Workers took the three days before the storm hit to haul all of the boats out of the water and onto higher ground.
"If we didn't have the warnings, a lot of boats would have been in trouble," Balabus said.
Megean Lyng was out Monday morning cleaning up branches from the grounds of the Freeport Yacht Club. She rode out the storm at the marina -- keeping an eye on the club and on a boat owner who stayed on his vessel.
"I made him a plate of dinner and took it over there," Lyng said.
-- Robert Lewis
GARDEN CITY/No power for odd-numbered homes
On a small stretch of Sackville Road in Garden City, the lucky live across from the unlucky.
The even-numbered houses have power. The odds do not.
A tree fell into Ray Finnerty's house around 4 a.m. Sunday, splitting a utility pole in half, blowing a transformer and coming to rest inside a second-story bedroom, plunging the odd-numbered houses of Sackville Road into darkness.
But the neighborhood came together regardless of odd or even numbers.
Finnerty is using a neighbor's house to shower, charge his cellphone and even keep his food from spoiling.
Michael Ventre, who lives on the corner of Sackville and Newmarket Road, is using a neighbor's power to keep his fridge -- and occasionally his daughter's hair dryer -- running.
Claude and Maria Steblai offered their outside outlet to Ventre, who plugged in, ran it across the road (secured with heavy-duty tape) and then looped it around the upturned roots of a 50-foot oak tree lost during the storm. From there it winds into the house, keeping the food cool.
"I'm sure they would do the same for me," Maria Steblai said.
Neighbors are thanking neighbors for any help they can offer, from a pot of coffee to extension cords.
"Everybody is helping everybody else," said Jennifer Gisolfi, who was providing a dinner last night of lasagna, salad and dessert for her neighbors living in the dark.
"I just want to help people. It could be any one of us."
-- Emily C. Dooley
HEAD OF THE HARBOR/Couple stuck at home as trees block off their street
Uprooted trees at both ends of Highland Avenue in Head of the Harbor trapped Troy Rosasco and his wife, Linda, in their home Monday. They couldn't get out by turning left. They couldn't get out by turning right.
So they stayed home from their Ronkonkoma office where Troy Rosasco is an attorney and Linda a paralegal.
"I need to have more ice," Linda Rosasco said. "If it's going to be a couple of days , we're going to have to find a way to maintain the house."
Early Monday afternoon, a village crew used chain saws to cut up a tree at one end of the street. That allowed most residents to drive to North Country Road. Others could drive the opposite direction to Moriches Road.
The Rosascos had spent Sunday night playing Monopoly by candlelight with their children, Arielle, 13, and Gregory, 12. They thought they would be homebound indefinitely because of the downed trees.
"We're thinking, we're going to be here for a while," Troy Rosasco said.
-- Carl MacGowan
MATTITUCK/Movie and relaxation for group at makeshift shelter
A small group of people watched a movie at the Southold Town Senior Services building in Mattituck Monday afternoon, and Karen McLaughlin -- who spent the past 48 hours in the building while it was serving as a special shelter -- was finally getting a chance to relax.
For McLaughlin, the town director of Human Services, the weekend had been a mixture of careful planning and improvising.
The planning consisted of making sure every one of the 125 people on her call list -- because they might require help -- was contacted. The improvising included having a ham radio operator on site, which came into play when a man from New Jersey called to say he couldn't find his 94-year-old mother. The radio operator located the woman.
"You learn something new in every emergency," McLaughlin said.
-- Mitchell Freedman
LONG BEACH/Residents: Taking storms in stride is how we do it
The hum of generators filled the air in Long Beach on Monday while a few people cleared their yards of debris and many others took to the beach and boardwalk to sit, walk, talk, bike and surf.
Under Monday's clear blue sky, Jeff Modiano prepared to go surfing.
"Look at those waves," he said, smiling. "But you should have seen them yesterday."
With a pump pulling water out of his flooded basement and notices that power won't be restored for days, surfing seemed to Modiano to be the best way to spend the day.
"This is part of living in Long Beach," he said. "Storms are a fact of life for us and we'll continue to deal with them. Happily. It's a barrier island mentality."
The thought was echoed by City Council president Thomas Sofield Jr., who said he, too, had water in his basement and no power. "The storm was certainly powerful, but here in Long Beach we accept these things."
-- Deborah S. Morris
KINGS PARK/Most businesses take a hit in small hamlet
Coffee was served by candlelight Monday at Edelweiss Delicatessen in Kings Park -- not for ambience but out of necessity.
While most of the hamlet's business district was a virtual ghost town after Irene knocked out power to just about the entire community, Dave Hennings lit a pair of candles and opened his otherwise dark deli. His was one of the few Main Street businesses open.
Hennings had to throw out his meats and estimated he lost "a couple thousand" dollars' worth of business. But he was able to make egg sandwiches and coffee with a gas-powered stove and grill. "I'm doing what I barely can," Hennings said.
Anthony Mirando Jr. decided to open his Main Street food businesses, Magic Sauce and Triple Crown Foods, even though he had no power and no cellphone service. The stores' land lines were still working.
"We have an old, old, old, old Princess telephone," said Jane Smith, who works at the store.
-- Carl MacGowan
Yankees pushed to brink, game 3 wrap ... Queens County Farm ... Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV
Yankees pushed to brink, game 3 wrap ... Queens County Farm ... Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV