Glenda Moore: Mother whose boys were swept out of her arms was left screaming on street for 12 hours

Mike Gallagher

Nov 1, 2012 - 06:28

Nov 1, 2012 - 13:10

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Glenda Moore: Mother whose boys were swept out of her arms was left screaming on street for 12 hours

Glenda Moore, 39, (pictured right on her wedding day) battled with 'all she had' but was unable to stop Connor, four, and Brandon, two, from being sucked away

Police searching for two young brothers who were ripped from their mother's arms during Superstorm Sandy have found their bodies.

The remains of Brandon, two, and Connor Moore, four, were discovered only yards from where they went missing in Staten Island, New York.

The boys' mother Glenda Moore, 39, is said to have spent 12 hours screaming in the street after they were swept away, but residents would not help her look for them.

Glenda Moore, and her husband, Damian Moore, react as they approach the scene where at least one of their childrens' bodies were discovered in Staten Island, New York, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012.

Tragedy: Glenda Moore (centre) with her husband Damien on their wedding day in 2009

The boys were sucked away by floodwater after Mrs Moore's car stalled and became stuck just before 6pm on Monday near the 400-block of Fr. Capodanno Boulevard in South Beach.

Mrs Moore, a nurse, tried to hold on to them but was overpowered by the force of the storm.

Police found the young brothers about 30 yards off the coer of McLaughlin Street and Father Capodanno Boulevard.

'Terrible, absolutely terrible,' police commissioner Ray Kelly said. 'It just compounds all the tragic aspects of this horrific event.'

The boys were reported missing in the aftermath of Sandy, which hit the borough hard with flooding

The boys were about 20 yards apart from each other, under water, buried by trees and debris, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.

After the storm cleared on Tuesday moing, officers, dogs and other searchers - armed with shovels, sticks and pitchforks - had been scouring those marshlands off Father Capodanno.

A team of scuba divers were also there to search the marshy area.

At 10:15am today, police in wetsuits found Brandon waist-deep in water. His brother was found close by shortly after.

After the boys disappeared, Mrs Moore knocked on a nearby door for help but was told: 'I don't know you. I'm not going to help you.'

Mrs Moore then tried another neighbor near her Staten Island home, but when she rang the bell they tued off the lights and refused to answer.

About 20 police officers from the NYPD Scuba Unit fanned out across a Staten Island marsh on Father Capodanno Boulevard in search of the boys

As the storm raged around her, the nurse took shelter in a doorstep, screaming and staring at the waters which had just snatched away her children.

Twelve hours later, at dawn when the weather calmed down, she found the strength to walk down the street and flag down a passing police car to raise the alarm.

Her cousin Nancy Jean, 41, fought back tears as she described the ordeal.

'I can’t believe the way she was treated by the people she went to for help,' she said.

'The first person she knocked on, she begged them and said: "Please call 911".

'They told her: "I don't know you" and closed the door. She tried another door but they tued the lights off.

‘I can’t imagine what she was thinking then. She sat down for 12 hours and was just screaming. She was out of it. When it got to moing she went and found a police car and told him what happened.’

Mrs Moore’s aunt, who declined to give her name, also told the New York Daily News: ‘They answered the door and said, "I don't know you. I'm not going to help you".

The mother told police that as the water started to rise, her car stalled and she got out of the car clutching the two-year-old son in her arms and her four-year-old son by the hand before they were washed away

‘My sister's like 5ft 3in, 130 pounds. She looks like a little girl. She's going to come to you and you're going to slam the door in her face and say, "I don't know you, I can't help you"?'

The aunt also said Mrs Moore told her she was knocked into the freezing waters herself by the power of the storm.

‘She was holding on to them, and the waves just kept coming and crashing and they were under.

‘It went over their heads… She had them in her arms, and a wave came and swept them out of her arms.

‘She [Mrs Moore] said she got shoved, and then the wave just took the car and flipped it over. She was knocked down.’

The aftermath of Sandy in Southshore, Staten Island. The area was severely damaged by strong winds and flood coming from the ocean

Battered yachts in Southshore, Staten Island. Authorities have found the bodies of both boys

Tragedy struck on Monday as Mrs Moore was trying to flee her home to get to Brooklyn where her mother Maria Lemaire, 64, lives.

As her Ford Explorer stalled on the Father Capodanno Boulevard in South Beach, she got out of the vehicle and freed both boys from their seat belts.

She grabbed them and put one under each arm - but lost her grip as a huge wave pounded over their heads.

Mrs Moore is married to Damien, 39, who works at the New York Sanitation Department. They have no other children and are ‘devastated’ at the loss of their sons.

Miss Jean said: ‘They were beautiful boys. They were regular kids, they were just two and four years of age. They were always well behaved.

‘I saw them on Monday moing because I watch them when their mother goes to work.

‘They were really happy and I know Glenda had bought them some Halloween costumes and was going to take them out on Halloween.’

The aunt added: ‘They're the most beautiful children ever. One's a redhead, the other a dirty blonde.'

Reached at her home in Brooklyn, New York, Glenda’s sister Sophia, 42, said: ‘I’m sorry, I have no comment’.

Ms Moore told police her car stalled and she became stranded in the marsh when the left her home in search of higher ground as the storm worsened.

Officers from the NYPD Scuba Unit fanned out across the Staten Island marsh on the Boulevard in search of the boys.

'Cops were in there hip deep trying to get them,' a witness said.