Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News
MTA superintendent Sal Ambrosino and signals division maintenance supervisor Michael Watt helped rescue a family stranded during Hurricane Sandy in Coney Island.
It was a life or death superstorm situation.
Four transit workers were trapped inside a Coney Island facility when Superstorm Sandy’s floodwaters outside rose to about 5 feet.
A young man and woman, who apparently abandoned their stalled-out car on Neptune Avenue, were struggling on foot against the torrent. And an older lady down the street had her arms wrapped around a fire-alarm box, with only her head above water.
All would escape, thanks to a rescue operation that started with signals division maintenance supervisor Michael Watt and superintendent Eric Williams answering a radio call for help from their four trapped colleagues.
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Watt, Williams and their four colleagues are now in contention for a Hometown Heroes in Transit award for their actions. Hometown Heroes is a Daily News program honoring city bus and subway workers who go the extra mile for their communities.
The deadline for nominations is Friday. In conjunction with the MTA and Transport Workers Union Local 100, The News will fete winners at a ceremony Jan. 29. The News will also publish a special section telling the winners’ stories on Jan. 29.
Watt and Williams had just evacuated the signals facility and arrived at another transit building on Bay 50th St. when the emergency call came in.
“We have to get out of here,” superintendent Steve Miller said from his office. “You have to come back and get us.”
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Watt and Williams jumped into their MTA Suburban. By the time they reached Neptune and Stillwell Aves., the water was up to the SUV’s door handles. “It had to be moving 15 mph,” Watt said. “It was fast and dangerous.”
The MTA employees trapped inside the facility— Miller, superintendent Sal Ambrosino, and signal maintainers Colombo Solimo and Kevin Puma — couldn’t push open the doors. The water outside was too high, the pressure too great. The building’s windows were locked from the outside, one of the men said.
Members of the group headed to the garage and opened a roll-up door. Afraid the electronic controls would short out if they waited much longer, they opened the door. The ensuing torrent into the garage was so powerful it picked up 5-foot-tall “gang boxes” easily containing more than 100 pounds of tools.
“I was walking down a narrow hallway towards the garage when a 4-foot wave comes shooting throughout the building,” Miller said. “The water’s up to my chest.”
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The four fought their way to the Suburban, which was idling on a bit of higher ground on Neptune Ave. Miller waded to the building and shut the roll-down gate to protect the facility from any looters.
“There’s millions of dollars worth of equipment in there,” Watt explained.
Miller, a certified rescue scuba diver, helped the young man and woman reach the Suburban. She was hysterical, screaming “my mother, my mother,” the transit workers recalled.
“I looked down the street and I see this older lady holding onto the fire box,” Miller said. “She’s about 100 to 150 feet away, and the water’s up to her neck.”
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Miller and the young man waded to the woman and, taking one arm each, pulled her back to the Suburban.
“I’m trying to fight the current back to the Suburban and I’m exhausted,” Miller said. “At this point, I’m exhausted and I say, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to make it.’ “
Then he saw the glow of the SUV’s tail lights.
“Mikey was backing that sucker up!” Miller said. “I was like, ‘Thank you!’ That Suburban shouldn’t have been running. The exhaust was under water. The engine was under water and he backed it up into even deeper water. I was like, ‘Go Mikey!’”
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With everyone packed inside — except Miller who had to stand on the running board and hold onto a window frame — the group plowed through the flood. The transit workers took the three civilians to Coney Island Hospital and went back to work.
MTA brass has nominated all six transit workers for a Hometown Heroes award.
Nominate a
transit worker for a
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Hometown Hero Award
Address nominations to
“Hometown Heroes” and send by email, letter or fax. Include a brief description of why a transit worker deserves an award along with relevant names, dates, locations and contact information for the sender.
Email: hometownheroes@nydailynews.com
Letter: P.O. Box 5040,
Bowling Green, NY 10274
Fax: 212-210-1505
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