Hurricane Irene

Evacuation to middle school and a Gateway sleep-in

Bellport Village pulls through with village, fire departments, police

Bellport’s marina and golf course had
some relatively significant bulkhead
damage from Hurricane Irene, said Bellport
Village Mayor Will Veitch.
“There’s a breakwater on the west side
damaged pretty heavily,” he said
But out of 156 boats, the owners got
them out and only 18 were still in the water,
Veitch said.
Over 100 people with medical issues
went to a shelter created at the Bellport
Middle School. “There were coordinated
efforts from the Bellport, Hagerman and
Brookhaven fire departments along with
South Country Ambulance and the school
district to create a shelter at the middle
school manned by the ambulance company,”
Veitch said. “The fact is they had generators
over there, and those people who wanted
to keep safe who didn’t want to get on a
bus to Longwood went there. It worked
out so well, the village, the ambulance,
the fire departments. We were all able to
pull together starting on Thursday and the
communication was really good.”
Veitch alluded to a burglary. Suffolk
County Police confirmed one person was
arrested for second-degree burglary on
South Brewster that occurred at 7:25 a.m.
on August 28. Shakur Saunders, 19, from
Mastic Beach was arrested at 8:45 a.m. on
South Country Road. Police said a person
who called said three people went in a
house, but only Saunders was arrested.
“Now it’s about the cleanup. As soon
as it was safe, we were out there moving
stuff, our elected officials were out and
about,” Veitch said. “We made hundreds
of phone calls to make sure there was an
evacuation process and we had our senior
van available.”
Deputy Mayor Jim Vaughan said the
village sustained a lot of damage to trees
and waterfront infrastructure. “There were
a lot of trees down on wires,” he said.
“The village highway department was out
working with the fire department to keep
the roads open for the emergency services
vehicles during the storm and without the
guys on the bucket loaders, we wouldn’t
haven’t had access to people’s houses. The
school district was very helpful too. Sheriff
DeMarco sent two correction officers with
four inmates and they helped us out with
tree cleanup and they’re coming back this
afternoon to clear off the dock. The storm
is an event, but after the storm, the grunts
have to come out and do the dirty work.”
Bellport Fire Department Chief Dane
Hartman confirmed those residents south
of South Country Road and South Howells
who wanted to go to a shelter were
evacuated. As for trees, “I couldn’t even
tell you how many we had, we lost count of
them,” he said. “The village has a lot more
old trees. Our fire department was also
helping out with traffic control because
the whole dock was underwater between
Pearl Street and Shore Road.” Hartman
mentioned the concerted effort in catching
the burglar, between police, South Country
Ambulance and the fire department and
noted they pursued three young people.
Hartman said the key to the community’s
communication were the meetings
between the three fire departments, South
Country Ambulance, and the village.
“We had meetings every eight hours,” he
said. “Everyone worked great. It was all
textbook. As of Monday, we must have
had a half dozen pumpouts on Point
Road Thornhedge and Bayberry, the low
lying areas in the village and the three
departments worked together.”

“Our community ran beyond smooth,”
said South Country Ambulance Chief Greg
Miglino of the transition. “We had a fully
functional shelter. We set up a section
for children with special needs, we had a
medical wing, we had a feed station and
there were some with oxygen-generating
machines that were accommodated. We
coordinated with local EMS to pick them
up in their home. We brought them to the
shelter and at the end of the storm we
returned them the same way. It was 103
people. We all worked together.”
Wallen’s Market in Bellport Village was
busy until Saturday around 4 p.m. That’s
when manager Bob Wallen, Jr. closed
the store. “We have 14 employees,” he
said. “Basically we have a couple who
come from as far away as Wading River;
everyone else, it’s East Patchogue, Bellport
and Brookhaven hamlet.”
As for what flew off the shelves, “it
was basically, water, milk, meat products
and snacks,” he said. “There were a lot of
people getting set to be in Saturday night
and Sunday they were looking for batteries
and water. We didn’t lose any power or
products and there was no damage to the
building. We lost a lot of shingles but other
than that, we were okay.”
The Gateway, which cancelled
performances last weekend on Friday after
the Long Island Railroad announced its
plans, had their entire company sleeping in
the theatre along with some neighbors, a few
friends of the theatre and gala committee
and local musicians. “There were about
30 of us who stayed over Saturday night,”
said Scot Allan, assistant to producer Paul
Allan. ”We sent most of the actors home
on Friday night because of the Long Island
Railroad train schedule. “We boarded up
the lobby windows. The wind coming over
the theatre was huge. We had mattresses,
pillows, food and games.”
Allan said every single subscriber was
called over a five-hour period and offered
comparable seats at any remaining
performances.
“We lost two big trees, one in the middle
of the property and then a huge locust
behind the theatre,” Allan said. “We didn’t
lose power, and damage; we had some
leakage but other than that we did okay.”
Sweeney Todd resumed Tuesday.
John Musser, operations director for
Lighthouse Mission in North Bellport said
their building on Montauk Highway was
untouched. “Basically there were trees
that came down around the facility, but we
didn’t lose power and it wasn’t too bad for
us,” he said Monday morning. “There were
a lot of people calling this morning making
sure we were going to our outreaches
and were curious as to where we were
open. Today we went to Ronkonkoma and
Coram, Tuesday we don’t have outreach;
Wednesday we’re in Wyandanch and
Central Islip; Thursday, we’ll be in Bellport,
Shirley and Port Jeff station; Friday in
Patchogue and Riverhead.”
Musser said food is needed at this time
and was hoping residents who came
through unscathed would respond. “Part
of the reason is that we emptied out our
refrigerator and freezer and we didn’t
want them to spoil. We have things in our
warehouse but it’s low and the need will be
higher.”

Unless otherwise indicated, the articles and photos on this page are copywrited and reprinted with the permission of Editor Mark Nolan