Autos buried by Port Washington mudslide

Bill San Antonio

Two automobiles parked behind an office building in Port Washington were buried in a mudslide late Wednesday night that resulted from the accumulation of rainfall that took place throughout the day.

Authorities said no one was injured and both vehicles – a minivan and sports car – were unoccupied at the time of the mudslide.

Sea Cliff Village Administrator John Mirando the village’s building department, Nassau County Fire Department and Nassau County Office of Emergency Management responded to the scene after a call was put in early Thursday morning saying a retaining wall behind the law firm Parker Waichman LLP, located at 6 Harbor Park Drive had partially collapsed.

“A woman in a nearby house heard a rumble at 2 a.m. She didn’t think anything of it and rolled over and fell asleep,” he said. “When she saw what happened she called the Nassau County Fire Department at 7 a.m.”

Mirando said firefighters evacuated her home and a nearby house “just to be safe.”

“I’ve been here four years and this is the first major thing like this we’ve had since then,” he said.

According to reports, the Roslyn Highlands Fire Department also responded to calls about the mud slide as early as 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Phone calls placed to Roslyn Highlands were not returned.

Michael Gannon, an assistant chief at Roslyn Highlands, told Newsday it was one of the bigger mudslides the department has responded to.

Employees of nearby office buildings on Thursday gathered around the mudslide, which extended into the parking lot of Parker Waichman, to take photographs.

Clean-up efforts were ongoing into the mid afternoon.

The National Weather Service’s Upton office, which covers the tri-state area, reported that between 2 and 5.5 inches of rain fell across Long Island on Wednesday. A flood watch was in effect until noon on Thursday.

Reach reporter Bill San Antonio by e-mail at bsanantonio@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x215 and on Twitter @ Bill_SanAntonio. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.

 

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