Woman Shelters Friends Without Electricity, Offers Help to Neighbors

You don't know what it's really like without power and electricty, the things we take for granted, unless you really lose them.

That's what Emily Behrens-Duff, who lives on Hyatt Street, says. While she has electricity, many of the people in her Sparkle Lake neighborhood don't.

Behrens-Duff has offered to help two families and close friends by having them stay over at her house until their power is restored. While there is no room in her home to have anyone else stay over, she has offered the rest of the neighbors a chance to charge their phones and laptops in her home.

"You have to be neighborly," she said. "You can't believe how much you rely on [electricity] until you lose it."

And the simple things that people are accustomed to -- like watching TV, or listening to the news, using electronics or having hot food on the table for the kids, is what you miss the most. In the first days, the kids who are staying at her house started turning on the lights in excitement that she has power, she said. 

"You take things for granted," Behrens-Duff said. "Without that kind of communication, you feel lost and completely out of touch."

Approximately 12 people were in and out of her house on Monday and she even  that day with her friend Jennifer Andresen, who has been without electricity since Saturday evening and is staying with Behrens-Duff. Andresen, a mother of three, who also lives in the Sparkle Lake area, said her basement flooded with two feet of water and everything in it has been ruined.

"I wish I could do more," Behrens-Duff said and added that while her house is small, all of her neighbors know her home is open if anyone needs anything.

And if you drive up and down the block, people will know who the woman is. The sense of community there is felt by many. Another neighbor has been really helpful is Kenny Bruen who has been lending out his generator to people who need to pump the water out of their basements, Behrens-Duff said.

"He is such a great guy," she said. "It's awesome he's helping out everyone out. Our neighborhood has never been without power for this long."

Tuesday afternoon, nearly 5,000 Yorktown households remained without power, of them 2,000 Con Ed customers and 2,800 NYSEG customers.