Shoreline residents prepare for the worst

Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, shoreline homeowners from Milford to Fairfield hefted plywood and filled sand bags morning to night on Sunday, getting ready for the "Frankenstorm" that promised a damaging storm surge and days of darkness.

And with every shovel of sand and blow of the hammer, memories of Irene flooded back, the August 2011 tropical storm that left many shoreline residents reeling to this day.

"Irene cost me $400,000," said Terry Magun, of Milford's Point Beach Drive. while his collie, Muddy, quizzically looked on. "I had to raise the house three-and-a-half feet and I had to rebuild the deck. I'm not a happy camper. My first floor is all new."

His daughter, Rachel, said ruefully that Irene sent a deck from another house through their front window.

"It's really tiring -- we have to board up the second-story windows, too," she said.

Magun's neighbor, Phillip Givens, said his repairs from Irene were finished just a week ago as a flood siren wailed ominously in the distance.

Both neighbors said they would comply with Milford's mandatory shoreline evacuation orders and get out before the predicted storm surge hits the coast.

Whitecaps in the distance: When Irene blew through Stratford's Lordship section, beachfront homes and cottages were hit hard. Two were destroyed and many homeowners faced days of digging sand out of their lower levels and a year of rebuilding. Much work remains undone, they said.

"We're picking up everything than can move or float away, and we're going to put some wood on the front and pray," said Ed Wetmore, who lives on Stratford's Shoreline Drive. "In Irene I lost both my front and back decks, and all my utilities underneath." He said that he'll be waiting out this storm up in Trumbull.

"You had us on the front page last year," said Brien McMahon to a team from the Post. "We boarded up the first level, which should take care of a 6-to-11-foot surge."

He said that Irene pulled a neighboring cottage off its moorings and sent it crashing into his house.

"Most of his kitchen was under there," he said, pointing to his freshly boarded-up crawl space.

"I brought this house to the 150 mile-per-hour code, so we should have no problems," said Arch Fracker, who was busy with his son and grandson sealing off his crawl space. His home is on West Beach Drive was also hit hard during Irene. Just like Irene, he said that he plans to hunker down and wait this one out, too.

In Stratford there was no mandatory evacuation, although Mayor John Harkins ordered a voluntary one and opened Bunnell High School as a shelter.

Through it all, homeowners would rest their claw hammers and shovels for a minute or two to cast a wary eye toward Long Island Sound. They could see whitecaps in the distance, and hear the surf thumping against the shore.

But not all did so with a look of dread.

"These waves aren't quite there, yet, said Vince Massey, also of Lordship, who was hoping to get in some surfing. "But they're almost do-able. I'd have to paddle pretty fast. I'll get my board out and I'll be back."

Going door to door

On Bridgeport's lower East End, cops were going door-to-door along Seaview Avenue and the nearby side streets telling people that a shelter would soon open up at Jettie Tisdale School, about 15 blocks distant.

Renee Leach asked Detective Keith Bryant if the area around The Home Depot would be a safe place to wait out the storm, because her parents have a home there.

"Without a doubt, if you have family up there, that would be a good place to go," Bryant said.

The city's police horses, usually kept in stables on Seaside Park, were moved Saturday to a private ranch in Bethany, several miles inland.

Parts of Seaside Village, a close-knit enclave in Bridgeport's South End, are actually below sea level, so it wasn't surprising that firefighters from Engine 7 and Ladder 11 were out in force Sunday afternoon handing out evacuation notices.

During the storm surge of Irene, seawater filled many of Seaside's basements, and homeowners faced the grim prospect of having to buy new furnaces, water heaters and washing machines yet again.

"When the Irene storm surge hit, the water came up to the top of the front steps, so most people had 6 feet of water in their basements," said Faith Gaertner.

In Bridgeport's Black Rock section, the undulating topography gave at least some residents hope that their homes would be spared.

"We've never taken water here in 20 years, and my neighbors have been here since the 1930s, and they said that the water never came up this far," said Claire Benoit, who lives on Harbor Street, a stone's throw from Brewster Cove. Still, she was approached by a police sergeant and a firefighter who told her that her street was under a mandatory evacuation order.

Divide and conquer

In Fairfield, one family near the shore echoed to the sentiments of many beachside residents -- the need to have someone in the house to take care of things.

Fred and Nancy Mis live on Penfield Road; Fred will stay put, while Nancy will leave for higher ground.

"We've been an island in the past," Fred Mis said. He and his wife will be "dividing and conquering," he said. Fred will man the generator at the house, while Nancy will take the dogs and head to a friend's house.

"If it gets too hard, I'll leave," Fred said. His wife said the most difficult part is that once you leave, you don't know when you'll be able to return.

Carol Muller lives on Hulls Highway, also in Fairfield, and she said her biggest concerns is a nearby stream.

She said she spent the morning cleaning out the stream to hopefully prevent the stream from flooding the street, and had headed down to Penfield to let town officials know her concerns.

jburgeson@ctpost.com; 203-330-6403; http://twitter.com/johnburgeson