Village Kicks Off Hurricane Irene Cleanup Work

Babylon Village employees are just hours into Hurricane Irene cleanup as of midday Monday and the process will likely take most of the week given extensive fallen trees and debris.

The first focus was on making sure the downtown business district was cleaned up so residents and emergency response vehicles had safe traffic access, said Mayor Ralph Scordino in a phone interview Monday early afternoon.

“We did a walk through after that and it looks like nothing even happened,” said Scordino, praising the village’s highway department crew for the fast clean up effort.

The next step was assessing village damage, with fallen tree scenarios and flooding, and prioritizing clean up projects. Just like Babylon Town, the village is working with LIPA on cleanup. Debris involving a downed wire is high priority but clearing the tree can’t be done until the area is de-energized for workers' safety sake.

Many of the village’s southern and shore-facing roadways were flooded heavily by Hurricane Irene, especially Little East Neck Road, Fire Island Avenue, Bayview and Peninsula Drive.

Despite a mandatory evacuation for those living south of Montauk on Saturday morning, Scordino estimates just about 10 to 15 percent of those residents took shelter away from home.

The mayor credited a collaborative effort between the village highway department, its fire department, Suffolk Police and town officials for having a solid emergency response plan in place and for keeping curiosity seekers out of flood zone areas.

“The town’s command center was a big help with email alerts about weather and other valuable insight. We’re glad this didn’t turn out as bad as predicted but the good aspect is that we now have a very good system in place using technology for future emergency response scenarios,” said Scordino.

There were no fires or fatalities in the village though the fire department handled a few storm related investigations. The department used pay loaders for fire officials to gain access in certain areas.

“We’ve only just really begun the cleanup and are starting to make a dent. It’s going to take three to four days,” said Scordino.