The Village of Mamaroneck Underwater

A few hours after Hurricane Irene passed through Mamaroneck, the ravages of its wake were evident.

At Harbor Island Park, groups of people wandered around shaking their heads in disbelief at the rising waters as they waded through saturated grass in the park.  The main entrance to the park was barricaded, however, people were walking along the Boston Post Road to gain access to the area.

Robert Goode, who lives on 4th Street in Mamaroneck, was lucky that he didn’t have any flooding from the storm.  Compared to the Nor’easter that ravaged Mamaroneck in 2007, however, the verdict was still out as to which storm was worse.

“The water was not as high in the Sound in 2007,” he said, continuing, “I think it’s still in the assessment stage.”

Mamaroneck Village Trustee Sid Albert said his Mamaroneck home was relatively unaffected aside from a few fallen branches.

“Overall I think we’ve [the village] done fairly well under the circumstances,” he said.

Praising the quick responses and early preparation of the police, fire and public works departments, he said, “I have to give each department such incredible credit for their organization.”

Compared to Hurricane Irene, however, Albert thought 2007’s flood was worse.

“I think we lucked out,” he said about the current storm.

Over on Stanley Avenue, what seemed like a small river of water rose as runoff from Sweetwater Luxury Condo building on Maple and Bishop Avenues.

Anthony Perrone, a resident of a condo building on 400 Mt. Pleasant Ave. right next to Sweetwater, said that at least 5-6 cars still parked in the luxury condo building's garage were flooded by several feet of water.

“It’s almost as bad as 2007,” he said.  His building’s garage was also flooded, albeit, with a much smaller amount of water than the Sweetwater complex.  The complex was still under construction during the 2007 flood.

Approximately 170 families were served lunch this afternoon at the temporary Red Cross shelter set up at the Post Road Gym at Mamaroneck High School, said Avril Dennis, a disaster mental health services volunteer for the Red Cross. 

Although no press were allowed inside, Dennis said that, at their highest count in the past 24 hours, up to 280 families utilized the shelter.  Dennis estimated that 90 percent of those families were from the village.

“Right now people are venturing out,” she said, adding that no disaster assessment had been done yet so she was unsure how much longer the shelter would be open for.

An additional 30-40 residents were evacuated after the storm hit last night. 

“Those folks had a different expectation,” she said, continuing, “They woke up to police knocking on their doors.”

According to a brief conversation with Village of Mamaroneck Mayor Norm Rosenblum, 40 percent of the village was affected by flooding; about 3,300 homes.

Affected neighborhoods included Washingtonville, the Flats and a section of Harbor Heights.

Rosenblum praised the efforts of all departments including police, fire and public works.