Hurricane Tales: Surviving the Darkness After Irene

Malvernite A.J. Wladyka lived through his first hurricane and didn't even know it.

The 6-year-old woke up Sunday morning after Irene had already passed through Long Island and asked his mother "When is the storm coming?"

"He hadn't heard a thing all night," his mother, Dawn Wladyka, said.  He slept through it. So did his two sisters, Faith, 7, and Reagan, 3. Even the family dogs remained calm throughout the storm.

"A.J. had expected a lot worse," she added. So did many others on Long Island.

Although Irene was responsible for causing major flooding, destruction and even some fatalities in communities across the East Coast, in Malverne and West Hempstead, residents were lucky to come out on the other side of the storm unharmed and with only some damage to their properties from downed trees, power lines and debris.

However, for the Malverne and West Hempstead residents who were still without power Monday (and hundreds of thousands more around Long Island) the next days may be far worse than what they experienced during the actual storm itself. In a press briefing Monday, the Long Island Power Authority said the power should be back on in most areas by Friday, but that means some customers could be left in the dark for up to five or more days.

The Wyladka family is among the approximately 1,900 homes in Malverne alone playing the waiting game right now. Although their power remained intact when Irene hit the area Sunday morning, their lights suddenly went out around 7 p.m. that night as Dawn was on her way to work.

"We really have no idea what caused it," she said, not noticing any fallen trees or wires around her home. "It is so weird." 

They've reported the outage to LIPA but have not received any updates other than the little information provided on the company's Web site, which says they are still "assessing" the cases in the area.

With no working T.V., Faith, A.J. and Reagan have been keeping busy throughout the blackout by listening to Harry Potter audiobooks, playing on their iPods and finishing up their summer reading projects.

"The kids morale is still great, but not sure how it will be when it gets dark again," Wladyka said.

For the now the family plans to stay put unless the blackout drags on for days. 

"I may have to temporarily relocate my tortoises," she added "They need heat lamps."

What's your Hurricane Irene story? Share it with Patch by emailing Tara.Conry@Patch.com.