Community Corner

Local Shelter in Mamaroneck Prepares For the Worst

Volunteers bustled to pre-register people arriving at the temporary shelter at the Post Road Gym at Mamaroneck High School earlier today. The shelter will officially open at 5 p.m. today.

Emily Morales and her three children were one of the first families in line at 3 p.m. today at the temporary shelter set up at the Post Road Gym at Mamaroneck High School.  The shelter—staffed by volunteers from the American Red Cross—is available to any family in the Town of Mamaroneck and Villages of Larchmont and Mamaroneck displaced by Hurricane Irene.

Standing off to the side of the registration table, Morales said that her family’s home on Lester Avenue had previously flooded in the Nor’easter that ravaged Mamaroneck in 2007. 

“It gives me chills,” she said, looking away. “We lost everything—we almost lost our home.”

Find out what's happening in Larchmont-Mamaroneckwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lester Avenue was not on the Village of Mamaroneck’s list of mandatory locations for evacuation, however, Morales and her family were not taking any chances and would spend the night if necessary she said.  Her husband was at home putting their possessions from the basement onto the first floor.

Fran Stone, a Red Cross volunteer for 18 years and White Plains resident, was working to get people pre-registered and settled in the shelter, which will officially open at 5 p.m.

Find out what's happening in Larchmont-Mamaroneckwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Would the storm be worse than the Mamaroneck floods of 2007?

“I hope not but it sounds like it,” she said, a tone of uncertainty in her voice.

Red Cross cots were already being set up in the gym under basketball nets and atop floors burnished to a high shine. 

The shelter will be open, “as long as it’s needed until it’s safe to get back into the community,” said Avril Dennis, a disaster mental health services volunteer with the Red Cross.

“We’re scrambling to get people here,” she said.   The shelter is one of 16 set up by the Red Cross at various points in Westchester County.  Click

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here