Breezy Point, New York: The Allen Family's Ordeal (Goes On)

Drew, Keri, and Ryan Allen once lived as an ordinary family in Breezy Point, New York.  Then Sandy happened.  Keri wrote about it on Facebook, which has been copied and pasted below (with a few light edits).

This weekend the Allen house will be gutted.  The family is staying with Keri's sister in West Islip, New York. 

Donations can be sent to:

Allen Family Hurricane Fund, c/o Sue McCarron, 359 Garden Street, West Islip, New York 11795-2421

Next weekend, on Saturday, November 17th,  is the benefit at R.C. Dugan's, 2314 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, New York, from 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.  The phone number there is 516-520-0325.

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From Keri Allen's Facebook Page 

It was quite an ordeal that is only seen in movies.

When the water started to rush down the walk only about a foot deep at that time, a neighbor told us to move our cars that water was coming, getting in. When Drew and I left the house to move the cars to higher grounds, the water was only calf high.  By the the time, we walked 3 houses the water was now waist high. We were being hit by wood and debris in the water.

I got very scared at that point and told Drew I didn't care about the cars and was going back to the house. I yelled for him not to go but he wouldn't listen. I turned around and when back to the house. By the time I got back to the house the water was chest high and was coming up to our front door. I heard a crazy humming and rumbling the floor was shaking. I asked Ryan what was that noise. Then I saw that my hardwood floor was
cracking, the noise was the water rushing under my house. I was scared the floor
was going to collapse.

I told Ryan to get into the tub thinking it was the strongest place in the house. I had to find his boots. At the same time I was trying to call Drew to see where he was and if he was safe. I told him to stay were he was, that the water was too hilgh. At that point I was looking around the house and Ryan started to yell "Keri, the water is coming into the bathroom."

I told him to get out and stand in the front door way. That it was the other strongest part of the house. I kept calling Drew. I didn't know where he was. He had been gone for so long. I had to get myself together to be able to think clearly so that I could
take care of Ryan. I am so glad Drew didn't listen to me. We kept losing each
other and it took him a very long time to get home.

Ryan and I were crying. I was screaming Drew's name out of the house and flashing the flash light so he could find his way in the dark. He finally made it. The water was knee high in the house when he returned. I would say the water was about 5 feet high at that point which was 7:15 P.M.  Our furniture started floating . We grabbed ziploc bags and trash bags, put our passports, cell phones and money and tied it to a bamboo pole.

We were looking around the house for things floating so we could use it to escape
the house. I saw the ottoman.  I told Drew we could use this for Ryan
if we needed it. When we left the house the water was chest high inside the
house. We went to the front deck and we saw a cooler and used that to float
also. When we stepped off the deck the water was over my head. If we had to guess,
we would say about 7 feet high. It was so cold.  It was so dark.

We held onto our neighbor's deck and the ottoman. We made it 3 houses and went to rest on a deck that was higher then ours. The water rushed in like a tsunami. Drew and I thought we were going to die at this point. We went into our neighbor's screened-
in porch and we heard people yelling to us, two young girls were going to check
on their grandfather. They got trapped by the rushing water and couldn't get in
to his house. They were banging and calling "Pop." He never answered their call.

When we were yelling to each other I said to Drew, "Holy shit, a house is floating
by." But it wasn't a house. It was a blue deck which got wedged in and was
blocking the walk to the parking lot, which we thought would be higher ground.
The two girls climbed on top of the deck and swam over to us. The water kept
rising. We all sat on the neighbor's table to wait out the storm. We all prayed
together and said an Our Father and a Hail Mary.  I also prayed out loud to my Father
and Mother and called on many angels in heaven to watch over us.

We went into my neighbor's house and got clothes and blankets. We were all so cold and wet. The two girls and Drew were wearing shorts.  Drew had shoes on but the girls didn't. We were all freezing from the cold water. The window blew out on their porch and I was worried that the roof would blow off. So we went into their house until the
water went down. We all rested for a while and decided we were going to try and
leave in an hour. It was now 12 A.M.

I looked up at the sky and it was the most amazing color red and orange. I said to Drew, "The sky is so red."  He siad, "It was the storm." But I wasn't so sure he was right. We never thought it was Breezy Point on fire.  We decided we would leave the house and thought we would take the sand  lane because the current was flowing and we could float on our backs if we had to. When we left the water was waist high. We made it close to the main street and saw all of the fire trucks. When we made it to the main street I started waving my hands in the air. The first people we saw were the firemen.  Ryan went up to one and hugged him and then he started to cry and so did I.

I never thought we were going to live. The firemen told us we needed to walk to the Catholic Club.  That was the shelter. It was right across from the fires. They moved us out of the Catholic Club on a police rack truck. We all stood on the back and they
drove us to the city bus that the police have taken over. We made it to the
bus around 4 A.M. When we drove away in the bus I brushed steam off of the
window with my arm and it hit me what we just lived through. I said to Drew, "Do
you realize we just lived a movie."  We arrived at the shelter around 6 A.M. We
didn't have any clothes to change into. I called my family and told them we were
ok. My brother came to pick us up and take us to his house. It was the scariest
night of our lives. We have angels with us for sure....

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But Drew, Keri and Ryan still need plenty of help from angels.  Again, where you can send your donation is:

The Allen Family Hurricane Fund, c/o Sue McCarron, 359 Garden Street, West Islip, New York 11795-2421.

And you can attend the benefit next weekend on Saturday, November 17th  at R.C.  Dugan's, 2314 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, New York.  The phone number is 516-520-0325.

 

Comments

[McCarron]

Nov 17th 1-5pm

[McCarron]

www.rcdugans.com/
R.C. Dugan's 2314 Hempstead Tpke East Meadow, NY 1155 (516) 520-0325.