Bellone: We're Ready for Irene

Babylon Town Supervisor Steven Bellone says the town, as well as other municipalities and emergency response agencies, are ready to respond to Hurricane Irene when she lands in the next 12 hours.

"Our big concern is making sure residents know if they don't evacuate now, imminently, they'll be there for awhile if the flooding comes as expected," said Bellone in a televised phone interview this evening.

"People sometimes get complacent as past storm warnings didn't pan out but you never know what will happen and that is what the big concern is here," he said, noting that despite mandatory evacuation south of Montauk Highway it's obvious many residents are staying put.

"It appears most people are riding this out and they need to know they're likely going to have to stay put for at least 24 hours after the storm," he said.

A big are of concern are low lying areas in Lindenhurst, West Babylon and Amityville, he added.

"If flooding is bad the emergency crews won't be able to get to those in those areas. But we'll start clearing and cleaning up once the winds bow down," he said.

Another big concern are the barrier beach areas such as Gilgo Beach and other town parks along Ocean Parkway. Past storms have caused continued erosion and funds have not been spent on replenishing the beaches, Bellone said.

"Ocean Parkway and those beaches are crucial in so many ways and a breach would bring such an environmental and housing impact and the work then needed to deal with that will be much more money than the funds we could have spent on repleneshing," Bellone said.

As of 7 p.m. Saturday evening, the situation was essentially a waiting game, said the supervisor, as the response plans and response teams are on point.

"We're ready to go," he said.