As East Haven prepares for Sandy, residents remembers Irene

EAST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- Residents of the Cosey Beach section of East Haven know all too well what a severe storm can do to their homes. Many residents spent their Saturday doing whatever they could to protect their belongings and stay safe.

Bobby Bishop is doing everything he can to try to protect his house on Cosey Beach, but he's not optimistic about Sandy based on what happened last year.

"Especially with the winds they're calling for," he said. "Board up the best we can, double board it. Say some prayers."

Others brought in a Bobcat and are building their own sand dunes to try to keep the water away. Down the street, John D'Addio is clearing out the whole ground floor.

"We're making sure everything is out of the garage as much as possible," D'Addio said. "I'm going to have a whole crew come in and help clean it all up and make sure everything's off of the ground. Nothing around that could float away."

Everyone in this neighborhood learned their lesson about tropical storms last year. Irene severely damaged 28 houses on Cosey Beach. Since then, many folks have tried to get their houses up and out of the way of storm surge.

"We've been raising the houses up to elevation, bolting them down to the foundations more than they used and just praying for the best," said Keith Whitney, KW Home Builders.

As much work as people are doing to make sure their houses stay secure, they all say they will not be sticking around when the storm hits. They learned that from all the damage, all the danger with Irene last year.

"My wife and daughter will be on higher ground to stay safe, and hopefully everybody else does the same," Bishop said.

But the other lesson learned in Irene is that whatever they do to protect the homes they leave behind, Mother Nature has her own plans. Whitney said the boarding up didn't help much in Irene.

"No, not at all," he said. "The doors, the plywood just disintegrated and ended up in the marsh."

Maybe Sandy will listen to the message he painted and just 'Go Away.'