Community Corner

Bellmore Residents Picking Up the Pieces After Irene

Residents continue to clean up Irene's mess.

When Patti Kutil, a realtor, was told she should evacuate her home before Hurricane Irene hit Sunday, she chose not to.

"I could not do it," she said. "To be so far away and to not know what was happening to my house, I could not do it."

The Bellmore resident chose to stay upstairs with her husband, her three children and her dog, Missy. When Irene was over, Kutil's house on Farmers Avenue held a foot of water in each room downstairs.

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Kutil said she lost a few pictures of herself in her younger years, a quilt that was given to her as a wedding present was damaged and her wedding dress was destroyed. She also lost her bedroom furniture and her 12-year-old daughter's bedroom suffered some water damage.

"It feels like it's been weeks, but it has only been two days," she said.

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On Tuesday afternoon, Kutil was still cleaning the mess Irene left behind. Her walls had water stains and an odd smell consumed the house.

"Even when you open the windows you can't get rid of the smell," she said. "The [Department of Environmental Conservation] was up at the corner today and I saw the fire department's HazMat truck."

Kutil said that the water that flooded her home had a brownish color, but as far as she knew, it was not contaminated.

"[The DEC] said that there were products in the water because there was so much water," she said. "The man I spoke to said that it would only cause my vegetation to die."

Even though her home was flooded, she did not lose any power. But Kutil said that Farmers Avenue is right near a canal, so a good number of her neighbors were also flooded.

A few people were outside cleaning Tuesday -- many of their belongings were on their lawns. Cases of bottled water, shoes and two large rugs were scattered in front of Kutil's house after the storm.

Kutil's neighbor, Tom Earle, said he was glad that he decided not to evacuate.

"When the hurricane hit, I heard circuits buzzing and I turned off the electricity. If I was not here, I would have lost my house," he said. "... I feel for those whose homes were totally destroyed."

The sentiment that things could be much worse was something Kutil also agreed with.

"One of our neighbors had like four feet of water and lost everything," she said.

For now, residents continue to clean up their homes and wait to hear back from insurance companies, but the storm has already done its damage.

"I will probably start crying a week from now," she said. "I am trying to get things back to normal. This will be months of work."


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