Glenda Moore, wife of Donegal native Damien Moore, has confronted one of the neighbors she claims turned their backs when she searched desperately for help during Superstorm Sandy as her two young boys were swept away in floodwaters.
The Irish Independent reports on the tragedy, just one of many stemming from Superstorm Sandy that rocked the Eastern coast last week. During the storm, Glenda Moore lost hold of her two young sons, Connor, aged 4, and Brandon, aged 2, as floodwaters engulfed them when they were trying to escape to safety.
"I asked you to help me, you bastard," the grieving Moore screamed at the man she claimed ignored in her search for help, a neighbor said.
The Irish Examiner reports that Moore had taken her two sons in her and her husband’s pick up truck to head for shelter after the storm began and their house lost electricity. Glenda’s husband Damien Moore was at work with the city council preparing for the massive storm.
En route, Moore encountered severe conditions, and the truck was knocked about in the high winds. When she got out of the car, she found herself waist-deep in floodwaters. She grabbed her two young sons in hopes of moving to higher ground, but another gust of wind blew them from her grasp.
The boys perished during the height of the storm on Monday, and their bodies were found three days later after an extensive search.
Police confirmed that Glenda Moore banged on the doors of homes on Father Capodanno Boulevard in Staten Island looking for help for her two sons on Monday during the storm.
The man Moore accused of not helping, however, reportedly thought he was being robbed when the frantic mother came looking for help. The morning after the incident, the man who didn’t help reportedly told neighbors that he thought he heard a burglar at the door during the storm.
A neighbor of his said, "He said somebody knocked at the door and he thought they were robbing him. . . He said: 'I'm not going to open the door, I'm not crazy.'"
Another neighbor said, "He's a nice person. He volunteers on the block. I don't see him as a person who wouldn't help.”
Still, Glenda Moore is left grieving the tragic loss of her two sons. Similarly, Connor and Brandon’s grandparents back in Donegal are grieving the loss as well.
Fr Philip Daly, the priest of Damien Moore’s home parish of Portnoo, has been comforting grandparents Paddy and Fay following the tragedy.
"You can’t put into words what she must have been going through," said Fr Daly of Glenda Moore. "That awfulness wasn’t helped by the actions of these so-called neighbours who refused to give support to the poor woman.”
Fr Daly noted how Damien Moore, who emigrated to the US in his 20s, often came back to visit his extended family in Ireland. Sadly, his children never got to visit though.
Fr Daly added that while the grieving grandparents won’t be able to fly out to the US for their grandchildren’s funerals this week, a memorial mass is being organized at St Conal’s Church, Kilclooney.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.bustermosson | Mar 16, 2013, 01:57 PM EDT
Like many of African heritage she feels she is "Entitled" to aid and support by others who work for a living.
Frosty38 | Dec 29, 2012, 09:26 AM EST
Irishranger -" You are not speaking in my Iirish name.You are the same kind of white trash I encountered in Boston" I resent this post I'm Irish American from Boston. I'm a nice person. I have taken in people when they were caught in a storm and when I lived in Chicago right Michigan Ave. I took food to them at night. MOST irish people have a heart as big as gold
breandan | Dec 25, 2012, 07:41 AM EST
Simply assuming that people disagree with the actions of the mother because she's African-American is racist in itself. If she were European-Amaner instead and people criticised her there would be no outcry. Why should her actions not be criticised based on her race? THAT'S racist.
bunchesofun | Dec 17, 2012, 08:54 AM EST
Given the looting that was occurring, you can't blame the man for thinking he was about to be robbed. I probably wouldn't have opened the door either.
Barry | Dec 12, 2012, 09:10 AM EST
Some of the comments posted here are bigoted and nasty beyond belief. I agree with McNamara31: IrishCentral should not allow posts like these.
exbelfastboy | Dec 09, 2012, 11:49 AM EST
Do you EVER comment on the ex-pats living in CANADA? Or is everything about the UNITED STATES OF America (or, as you incorrectly call "AMERICA") Let's have some news about the west coast of Canada and it's MANY ex-pats.
shotei | Nov 23, 2012, 02:04 PM EST
Hard to feel sorry for someone that was told a week earlier to get out and go to higher ground. How stupid do you have to be to stay on a freakin island with a hurrican bearing down on you? Probably an Obama supporter.
ciaradexy | Nov 21, 2012, 11:38 AM EST
Wow! This site is still filled with vile bigots. A family lost their 2 kids and people are waffling on about their colour? These kids were Americans like most of you on here. Show some human decency.
deirdre emm | Nov 18, 2012, 10:37 PM EST
This is one of the saddest stories I ever heard in my life and I can't imagine what this family is going thru. Especially the mother - I am a mom myself and trying to put myself in this person's shoes brings tears to the eye. What kind of person would refuse help or ignore her cries for help - so inhuman. I pray for this poor mother.
McNamara31 | Nov 18, 2012, 02:40 PM EST
@Niall.. Why would you allow a post such as this to litter the pages of Irish Central? Saying nothing, and allowing this type of outright biogtry, is as bad as the bigotry itself. This is not free-speech, it's hate pure and simple....."GhettoNuker | Nov 10, 2012, 10:22 AM EST Oh, good riddance. Whites need to get off their knees, stop feeling guilty, reject the leftist indoctrination, and start THINKING CRITICALLY. The TRUTH of the matter is the LESS negroes on this planet the BETTER it is for White people."
Lokelani | Nov 17, 2012, 05:24 PM EST
Where is the compassion amongst the majority of you? Are any of you Christians? It's hard to tell.. This poor woman, everyday for the rest of her lifve will get up knowing her children aren't going to be there. And the father as well. Pray for them that they might have some peace. And these children were African American as well; I feel some of the lack of compassion is due to racism..sad!
McNamara31 | Nov 17, 2012, 12:20 PM EST
hooligan6a How does it feel to sit upon your high perch and judge this mother who has lost two children? Where do you live? Many never expected this storm to have the intensity or were afraid to leave their homes. Did you see how many remained in Breezy? (Oh, but they're our own kind I guess)... And to the bigoted comments at the beginning of this thread ( Rot/Clocktower)I truly hope all your evil comments come back upon you to teach you a lesson in empathy.
hooligan6a | Nov 17, 2012, 09:56 AM EST
Hold on, How did the kids die? She survived. Why was she banging on the neighbors door instead of getting out of there? What did she want the neighbor to do? Why did she wait so long to try to escape? We are making judgements and we don't know the whole story.
KathleenBerrio | Nov 16, 2012, 05:23 PM EST
Didn't Mary and Joseph look for safety when Jesus was born? They were turned away too.
breandan | Nov 16, 2012, 01:49 PM EST
I'm sorry her kids died. She feels guilty that her actions resulted in the death of her children. She is trying to make herself feel better by blaming the result of her actions on others. I wouldn't leave my house during a hurricane to run around looking for missing people. If it was safe to do so she could have swum after her kids, grabbed them quickly, and walked home. She wanted her neighbors to fix her mistakes and she didn't care if they died in the process. Her neighbors are not responsible for her decisions and they shouldn't have to prove their worth by dying to correct her mistakes.
Joe Kelsall | Nov 15, 2012, 04:52 PM EST
Irishranger - You are not speaking in my Iirish name.You are the same kind of white trash I encountered in Boston
eiriamach | Nov 11, 2012, 04:30 PM EST
Yes, Moirann16, it is disgusting! (IrishRanger, though, was quoting clocktower's racism to reject it, apparently.) If you're Irish rather than American, you might not realize how much raw, ugly racism Obama's re-election has brought out here. Maybe it will die down if they can begin to accept the multicultural real face of America, but I wouldn't count on it. You see the very worst of Irish America in comments like GhettoNuker's: "Whites need to get off their knees, stop feeling guilty, reject the leftist indoctrination, ... the LESS negroes on this planet the BETTER it is for White people.'" And clocktower's on Nov 09, 2012, 12:08 PM: 'These kids are not Irish. They are Mulattoes. They lost their white heritage when the father mixed with a black.'" These toxins come to IC looking for like-minded racists. If you know what their names, "GhettoNuker" and "Clocktower," refer to, then you know that the thing to do when they show up is just to go elsewhere, out of earshot, so to speak.
Moirann16 | Nov 11, 2012, 02:38 AM EST
Wow, some of these comments make me gag. It is just heartbreaking to read them! You have lost your humanity, San Miguel and Irish Ranger! Will you finally realize that fact on your deathbed?? This was a racially motivated incident. Shame on the neighbor!! No one is going to rob him at the height of a hurricane! I don't see how he can live with himself!
sanmiguel | Nov 10, 2012, 06:57 PM EST
As many others have written, she was warned with plenty of time to evacuate. Instand she chose to risk not just herself, but her Children as well by staying until it was too Late. When she finally tried to leave, it was already too Late as she Found out. Then she took the children into the flooded street and High winds. When they were taken from her by the force of the weather she should not have been surprised. By the time she went to the neighbor's homes looking for help, it was already to late. A 2 and 4 yr old would not have been able to fight the winds or water. And then she is upset that someone would not go out in the dark to look for 2 small bodies is just too much to believe. They were found days later nowhere near where she lost them. It is people like her that place the lives of first responders at risk. Her husband was aware of the storm and ts severity, why didn't he make sure that his wife evacuated the area? I am sorry she lost their children, but even of they had looked immediately for those children, in the dark, with limited equipment, the children would have already been drowned. For those commenting on race, well colour had nothing to do with this. Idiots come in all shapes and colours. As a first responder I have had to rescue more than my share of educated whites, blacks, Latinos, etc.
IrishRanger | Nov 10, 2012, 02:15 PM EST
"These kids are not Irish. They are Mulattoes. They lost their white heritage when the father mixed with a black."..........Irish FATHER......KIDS are Irish, ENDOFSTORY, regardless of skin colour of mother
IrishRanger | Nov 10, 2012, 02:13 PM EST
Clocktower are you SeanOMelb in disguise, you sound like that racist fool
tony whelan | Nov 10, 2012, 12:26 PM EST
As christians you only have to ask what would jesus do? reading some of these comments one would have to wonder if we live in a christian country. AS THE RIGHT WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE. why do so many right wingers have so much hatred in there harts, and then preach christian values. just ask yourself what would J.S. DO? PEACE WITH YOU.
MaryM232 | Nov 10, 2012, 11:37 AM EST
This woman will be in my prayers, but she has no right to blame others for her and her husband's poor decisions. People who lived near the shore were warned to evacuate well before the storm and many like her family refused to do so. There was another family, who stayed, and the waves destroyed their home, the father, and the 13 year old daughter lost their lives, and the surviving members are disconsolate, but they aren't trying to blame others. This woman and her husband didn't take the call to evacuate seriously, and then she wants to threaten an elderly man, who didn't open his door when she was banging on it, and she ignores the fact that on Staten Island, despite many nice areas, is regularly run roughshod over by gangs of blacks and Hispanics, doing home invasions, especially during a storm, when they seek to take advantage of a crisis for their own profit. I know she's overwhelmed by grief, but she's not entitled to throw the race card, it reveals a lot about her that is ugly and cruel.
GhettoNuker | Nov 10, 2012, 10:22 AM EST
Oh, good riddance. Whites need to get off their knees, stop feeling guilty, reject the leftist indoctrination, and start THINKING CRITICALLY. The TRUTH of the matter is the LESS negroes on this planet the BETTER it is for White people.
akcoins | Nov 09, 2012, 08:49 PM EST
Rot, I hope you do. clocktower your a bigot. I hope your not Irish. If you are, I hope your ancestors were treat badly as Irish immigrants to this country.
Rot | Nov 09, 2012, 01:14 PM EST
Why are there so many bleeding heart fools on this planet? The mother was an irresponsible twat- she had removed her children from the safety of her own home, drove them into a hurricane while driving along the beach, leaves her children hanging onto tree roots instead of staying there with them and then blames the man for not helping what to him seemed like a nutjob who was screaming and throwing pots at his house in the middle of a hurricane.. with a mother like that, the kids were bound to die anyway. I would not be surprised if she is just blaming him to not look like a shitty irresponsible mother in front of her disgusting husband. Becoming a parent means you have to be RESPONSIBLE- clearly what this mother is NOT. Instead of taking responsibility she is blaming some random man that she does not even know.
clocktower | Nov 09, 2012, 12:08 PM EST
These kids are not Irish. They are Mulattoes. They lost their white heritage when the father mixed with a black.
LindaMarie | Nov 08, 2012, 11:20 PM EST
@gobdawpaddy I think you and bourkebabe are both overestimating her guilt and turning a blind eye to his. Sure, this woman made a bad call. She should have stayed at home (in a non-flood area) or headed to Brooklyn earlier. Mistakenly, she drove into a flood zone and ended up in a ditch. At most, she is guilty of poor planning. That absolutely PALES in comparison to what this man did. He ignored her. He did not even call for help! His neighbors followed suit. I will not apologize for wishing ill on him, and I will not pretend that he doesn't deserve it. I am also not impressed that he seems like a nice guy during an interview. Anyone can seem like a nice guy during an interview! When determining if a person is the type to abandon a neighbor in need, I tend to be less interested in how they interview and more interested in whether or not that person HAS ACTUALLY IGNORED a neighbor in need. I tend to think that approach more reliable.
gobdawpaddy | Nov 08, 2012, 10:03 PM EST
bourkebabe, I agree with your observations on this tragedy. They are in direct contrast to Linda's incitement to violence. May this poor lady find peace and her two sons RIP.
LindaMarie | Nov 08, 2012, 09:39 PM EST
Let's not delude ourselves here. The cowardly old man saw a hysterical black woman knocking on his door in the middle of a huge storm and thought she must be trying to rob him. There is no way on earth that he would have reacted like that if she were white. I hope he gets more than flower pots through his windows.
bourkebabe | Nov 08, 2012, 05:05 PM EST
Very very very sad...but in the chaos, mistakes happen. I saw the man in an interview and he did not seem the type that would not help a neighbor in need. He must have been very scared. WHY did she not leave before the waters got that high? Everyone was warned repeatedly so she is partly to blame for the sad tragedy. In her grief, she is trying to find someone else to blame.