ONE DOWN: This devastated bungalow in Broad Channel, Queens, was flattened — although no injuries were reported in the waterfront community, where many residents chose to ignore evacuation orders. (Anthony Fioranelli/Multi Media)
BEACH BUMMER: Let’s hope the folks who live in this Southampton house did better than most New York City residents and heeded warnings to get out of Irene’s way. (Getty Images)
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They gambled against Irene — and lucked out.
Most of the 370,000 residents of flood-prone New York City neighborhoods defied mandatory evacuation orders, deriding Hurricane Irene’s ballyhooed blow through town yesterday as more sound than fury.
“You have to deal with what nature sends,” said John Walsh, 46, who refused to leave his Beach 92nd Street apartment in Rockaway Beach, Queens, despite the Category 1 hurricane’s driving rain, howling winds and surging seas.
And deal they did.
From Battery Park City to the Rockaways and Long Beach, LI, Irene failed to scare off the foolish and the fearless.
Of those who did follow orders, only about 10,000 stayed in shelters; others stayed with friends or relatives, officials said.
“I’ve lived through Hurricane Andrew and other Category 5 storms,” boasted Marisa DeMateo, 33, a lawyer from South Florida who lives on the 14th floor of a lower Manhattan high-rise where other tenants heeded evacuation orders.
“We slept through it. If we’d gone to Long Island or New Jersey, we’d have no power,” she added. “It was really smart to stay where we were.”
In the battered Rockaways, where sand blew onto streets three blocks from the beaches, power lines were knocked down and tree limbs littered every street, leaving wasn’t an option, said Vinny Hopkins, 61.
“I stayed because I was here through Hurricane Donna in 1960, and I just couldn’t leave the house,” he said. “It wasn’t good. I didn’t sleep well.”
In Battery Park City yesterday morning, hundreds of runners, walkers and parents with strollers ignored a police van blaring: “An evacuation order is still in effect.”
“We didn’t think it would be a big deal,” said lawyer Marisa Pizarro, 32. “The quietness is kind of nice.”
Nearby Harrison Street resident Vladi O’Farrow, 25, a model, said she and her husband didn’t leave because “we thought it was overblown — and it totally was.”
“There was nothing — I slept like a baby,” she said.
In Broad Channel, Queens, where many heeded orders to get out of Irene’s way, the FDNY said it had been checking empty bungalows for structural damage — and to make sure no one was inside.
The search continued late yesterday afternoon with no reports of injuries.
By 3 p.m., the city lifted its evacuation order for “Zone A” residents.
Last night, the state Department of Health reported 9,849 patients from hospitals and nursing homes in flood-prone areas had been safely transferred. “It was an unprecedented effort,” said spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.
Additional reporting by Josh Saul and Cathy Burke