Stubborn New Yorkers in evacuation zones were hunkering down in their homes yesterday even as Hurricane Sandy began doing everything forecasters said it would do.
“I didn’t leave last year, I’m not leaving this year,” said Desmond Farrell, 32, a carpenter who ignored evacuation warnings in the Great Kills section of Staten Island.
“It’s never as bad as they say. Last year during Hurricane Irene, me and my friend went rafting around the neighborhood. We plan to do it again. It’s fun.”
It wasn’t fun for homeowner Joyce Adamiszyn, 57, who lives a half-block from Jamaica Bay on West 17th Road in Broad Channel. Her day started with water rising three feet before the tide pulled back.
“Me and my husband are staying put,” Adamiszyn said, hours before the next high tide.
“I’ve lived on this block for 57 years. You make your decision and hope for the best. I’d rather stay here and save something rather than going away and having no idea what I’ll be coming back to.”
Mayor Bloomberg continued to urge the 375,000 people in the coastal evacuation zones to leave their homes, including 45,000 who live in public housing.
He said that 76 emergency shelters in city public schools are taking people with their pets.
But he warned that the evacuation window was closing.
“You should have left, but it’s also getting to be too late to leave,” the mayor said. “You can look outside and say, ‘Oh, this is not bad.’ That’s correct, but it is going to be.”
In Rockaway Park, resident Sheila Ray vowed to ride out the storm — even though she lives a half-block from the beach. She left her car parked in Brooklyn, but she refused to leave the danger zone.
“It’s pretty bad out there, but we decided to stay put,” Ray said. “I live on the second floor so I’m not really worried. I’m just worried about flooding.”
“My wife wants to leave. She’s panicking,” said Greg Bruno, 43, a Staten Island mechanic from low-lying Eltingville.
“We’ll leave if the water starts coming into the house. My parents live three blocks away. I can live in the woods, I’m not worried. Granted, if you can’t take care of yourself you should get the hell out. Everybody seems to have already left.”
Not only was Jose Pozo planning to stay in his Red Hook evacuation-zone apartment, but he was riding his bike around the neighborhood and taking in the stormy sights.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime storm,” said Pozo, 43. “We may never see anything like this again over here.”
Although officials said there would be no legal penalties for ignoring evacuation orders, residents in one housing complex said they were being threatened by cops.
“A cop told me if they catch us not evacuating, it’s a misdemeanor,” said Manuel Rosado, 60, who lives in the Alfred E. Smith Houses on the Lower East Side.