Locals determined to make the best of it as Sandy nears

• Flooding did not await Sandy's arrival
• Many communities are evacuating
• Some residents flee to shelters

FREEPORT, N.Y. -- As Hurricane Sandy continued is brutal march toward communities along the nation's eastern edge, locals expressed a resolve to make the best of whatever the historic storm brings.

Flooding did not await Sandy's arrival on the south shore of Long Island, where water began moving north from the ocean bays before dawn Monday.

Like many coastal communities targeted by the massive storm, evacuation orders for waterfront areas had gone out the previous day.

Ocean water edged slowly up Guy Lombardo Avenue in Freeport. By high tide, around 8 a.m., it was approaching the Bagel Dock Café, whose front windows were boarded with plywood that bore the spray-painted announcement, OPEN.

Outside, refugees from the flooded zone to the south trooped past. One man carried a dog in his arms.

A Bagel Dock employee, Danielle Eddinger, said that despite the encroaching water, the place would stay open until 2 p.m. "I just moved here from Florida -- Vero Beach,'' she said. "I lived through (hurricanes) Charley and Francis in 2004. And now this.''

But she said she was impressed by Yankee storm preparations. "To me, this is really just another storm. I'm not worried. I think we'll be OK.''

In Levittown, the nation's prototypical post-World War II suburb, Levittown Memorial High School was pressed into service as a shelter.

Among those spending the night was Mike Leshore, 21, of Long Beach, one of the communities on Long Island's south shore hardest hit by early flooding.

He said he only left home in advance of the storm because he was caring for his 1-year-old son, Joel.

"I figure better safe than sorry. I don't know if you religious, but we don't know what God has in mind this time. "

In Wall, N.J., the Dunkin Donuts at the Sea Girt Mall was open and many people were getting coffee and donuts on their way to work or heading back to their homes.

"A lot of people are customers are coming in and buying big orders. They are saying they have never seen a storm like this in New Jersey before," said employee Kalpesh Patel.

Margie and Jay Franks from New Hampshire stopped at the store on their way to stay the night at a friend's house in Wall. They were on their way to Florida but will now ride out Sandy here.

"We were going to stay with my sister, but her home was evacuated," said Margie Franks.

Margie's sister, Ginna Traymore, lives in a mobile home park on Atlantic Avenue.

"I just retired. I hope I have a home to live in when the storm is over," Traymore said.

In Smyrna, Del., Joanne Williams was leaving the Wawa convenience store Monday morning on her to way to work at a Dover nursing home where she is the director.

Williams said she was ready for work, despite the approaching storm.

"We got everything ready at the nursing home," she said. "We got extra food, extra everything we need."

In Deal, N.J., Deal Food and Liquor Store was open for business Monday morning despite a boarded-up storefront. Owner Robin Santanello's shop still had bottle water, milk and bread. But, with the store expected to close Monday afternoon, why open as Hurricane Sandy approached?

"Because we always open," Santanello said.

Business was booming at the Washington Square Diner in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, several blocks from the borough's west coast. Co-owner Elias Tsikas said he's not too worried about the storm.

"What's the worst that could happen?" he said. "I know how to swim."

Contributing: Robert Klemko; Bob Radal and Alesha Williams, Asbury Park Press;The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.