Community Corner
10 Dispatches From Tropical Storm Irene
Irene walloped Southampton just before Labor Day weekend.
Though Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time is hit eastern Long Island, it still packed a powerful punch, leaving many without power for days, flooding some homes, causing massive dune erosion, and causing several trees to fall, some taking out power lines, others taking out vehicles or damaging homes.
Take a look back on 10 reports that Southampton Patch filed before, during and after the storm:
• - Evacuated families clustered their cots together in the Hampton Bay High School gymnasium, some keeping themselves occupied with electronics. A handful of seniors sat in the school auditorium — which, unlike the gym, is air conditioned — and watched the Cuba Gooding Jr. movie “Radio.”
Find out what's happening in Southamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
• - Stores in Southampton Village boarded and tapes their windows in preparation for Hurricane Irene.
• - Despite a hurricane warning, flood watch, flood advisory, and tornado watch, many North Sea residents are opted to stay put at their homes and ride out the storm.
• - Patch brought readers a live blog during and after the storm, posting updates frequently on the status of roads, power and more. Editors also quickly answered readers' questions about specific areas where their homes are, or where they have friends. Click the headline to be taken to a replay of the live blog.
• - Sagaponack got some heavy damage in the storm. Sagg Pond overflowed, flooding out Sagg Road from Sagg Pond Court to practically Sagg Main Beach. People walked through the flooding to survey the beach erosion on Sagg Main; the water was up over their ankles. Large trees came down elsewhere in Sagaponack, such as on Hedges Lane, where a tree brought down wires.
• - Southampton emergency management officials say as the town recovers from Tropical Storm Irene, residents have been tying up emergency lines asking for information, which, in many cases, the police don't have.
• - A handful of YouTube users shot videos of Southampton before, during and after Tropical Storm Irene, and Patch rounded the videos up in one place.
Find out what's happening in Southamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
• - The town supervisor and village mayors reported that the Hamptons was open for business in time for Labor Day weekend, merchants' and restauranteurs' last chance of the year to make big sales.
• - Patch caught up with Michael Gaines, a certified master arborist and the owner of CW Arborists, as he and his crew worked to clean-up yards littered by Hurricane Irene all over the South Fork. While he took trees off houses, cars and front lawns, he said things could actually get worse as tree limbs dry out. Check out what else he had to say about the hurricane damage.
- Since Tropical Storm Irene hit, many bayfront homeowners in Shinnecock Hills have a shorter walk to get to the beach. In some areas on Shinnecock Bay, particulary between Atterbury Road and Far Pond Road, property owners lost as much as 30 feet from their yards as churning waves destroyed the bluffs — bluffs that they have been trying to stabilize for years with the help of environmental consultants.
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