Along the Coast, Greenwich is Ready For Irene

The Town of Greenwich has been abuzz with activity for the past several days as residents and business owners gather supplies and batten down the hatches in preparation for Hurricane Irene, who is expected to start unleashing her wrath on the area starting around 11 p.m. Saturday.

But perhaps nowhere in town have people been busier than along the shore: At the marinas, the yacht clubs and the beaches, massive preparations have been underway for days, with boats being removed, docks being secured, and coastal barriers being fortified, in order to protect against an anticipated storm surge of 4 to 6 feet.

Over at in Old Greenwich, one of the town's oldest beach clubs, club manager Peter Cantazaro and his crew were busy getting docks secured, boats out of the water and the facility boarded up for Irene’s arrival. Cantazaro said the club always gets pounded in coastal storms due to its south-easterly exposure and the fact that there are no marine barriers whatsoever, man-made or otherwise, to protect it from tidal surge and high waves.

“Right now we’re getting everything out of the water and up on as high ground as we can,” Cantazaro said Thursday. “We have all of the boats out of the water — what we’re doing is we’re ‘trailering’ them and putting them in the parking lot.”

Cantazaro said he and his crew removed more than a dozen boats over a period of two days and placed them on trailers — each boat, he said, is tethered to its trailer “so if the tide comes into the parking lot, which it has done before, the boats will float up a bit, and then set back down on their trailers when the tide goes back out again.”

He added that he is hoping the tide won’t come into the club’s lot, but considering its history of flooding and the storm surges predicted, “we’re probably going to see that happen.”

Cantazaro said he is also anticipating that the club’s two swimming pools, which are smack-dab on the water, will also get swamped with sea water — “we’ve had that happen a bunch of times here,” he said, adding that the club will either attempt to recondition the water or will pump the pools out and start over again. “We may even decide to close them for the season,” he said.

Meanwhile over at MacKenzie Marine Service on River Road in Cos Cob harbor, owner Peter MacKenzie reports that he and his crew have been busy plucking dozens of boats from the water using the marina's crane since Wednesday.

"We got about nine boats out today and we're hoping to get another nine out tomorrow," MacKenzie said Thursday afternoon, adding that all the boats are moved to far side of the marina's parking lot, away from the shoreline and docks. "The thing is, the boats we're taking out tomorrow are going to be quite a bit bigger, and they take more time, so, we'll see."

MacKenzie said Friday he expects to be removing boats through Saturday. He said the tidal surge may possibly rise above the marina sea wall that runs along the edge of the Mianus River and into the parking lot.

Meanwhile numerous residents were seen removing their boats at the public boat ramp at Grass Island Friday afternoon.

When one boat owner, who wished to remain unidentified, was asked if the storm will be as bad as forecasters are predicting, he said, "I think it will be ... which is why I'm getting my boat out of the water now."

During Thursday's special meeting among town leaders and emergency responders at 4 p.m. Friday at Town Hall, First Selectman Peter Tesei informed that the Parks & Recreation Department has boarded up the facilities on Island Beach, Great Captain's Island and Greenwich Point. In addition all docks and marine related equipment which the town owns has either been secured or removed from the water.

The ferries used for the two Islands have been secured and Tesei pointed out that they have been through other storms while docked in Greenwich Harbor and are expected to be OK.

Tesei said the town's Police Boats are being kept in the north end Cos Cob harbor, where they will be more protected from high winds, waves and storm surge.