Mayor: Sandy Damage Could Be in Hundreds of Millions

Babylon Village Mayor Ralph Scordino told Patch much of Babylon Village was at the mercy of Hurricane Sandy's storm surge and winds on Monday night and damages to the village could total into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Everything south of Montauk Highway... the closer you got to the water, the worse it got," said Scordino, who estimated waves of six-to-eight feet might have slammed into homes in the low-lying, close to the bay areas. "If you had a low-lying home on the water? So much water in their houses."

The mayor, who said he would be working with FEMA and residents in the future, said he estimated as many as 2,000 homes could have been affected by the storm. Using $100,000 as a base number for each home's damage, Scordino figured the village could have lost as much as $200,000,000.

"Once they left, you left the house up to the elements," said Scordino, noting the homes that sustained flood and fire damage.

On the bright side, the mayor noted, no one from Babylon Village appeared to be seriously injured or killed during the storm – a miracle in the wake of disaster.

The area south of Montauk Highway is still being protected by a mixture of Suffolk County Police Department officers and National Guard troops throughout the Town.

"We'll have some check points for residency and other legitimate reasons to be down there," said Scordino. "We're going to be hard on people heading down there," noting the clean-up and road access for the village was top of his concerns.

The National Guard will continue to monitor the village's Business District, currently without power, for the time being.

"It's going to be tough on them [business owners], too," he said. "Just the amount of product and produce lost." He noted the businesses needed power and he would keep on LIPA to get everyone back on soon.

Scordino set a timetable for at least one thing to return the village to some sense of normalcy – he said roadways should be clear of branches, trees and other debris by the end of the week.

"I really need to credit the fire department, Suffolk Police, National Guard, Highway Department and Skip Gardner (head of highways) for all their brave, hard word," Scordino said.