An 82-year-old Brooklyn grandmother who survived the Holocaust drowned in a Catskills cottage that flooded when Hurricane Irene roared through, cops said Monday.
Rozalia (Leah) Stern-Gluck of Williamsburg had been vacationing in Fleischmanns. She was trapped Sunday in her cottage when a nearby creek overflowed.
New York State Police Investigator Jeffrey Moore said more than 6 feet of water filled the woman’s cottage at the Valkyrian Motel. Her body was found late Sunday when floodwaters subsided.
Isaac Abraham, a Brooklyn Hasidic community leader, said Stern-Gluck was born in Russia and survived the Holocaust. “She survivedHitler, but she couldn’t survive Irene,” Abraham said.
Chanie Epstein, 25, who grew up in Gluck-Stern’s building, described her as a “righteous woman.”
Meanwhile, the death of a Bronx man found Sunday floating in a City Island marina was ruled an accidental drowning. Jose Sierra, 68, had gone to check on his boat during the storm and fell into the drink.
His son, FDNY Firefighter Jose Sierra Jr., said his father loved being on his boat to fish. “It brought him peace,” the tearful son said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority also said two MTA cops saved the life of a woman by pulling her from the Bronx River on Sunday night.
Sandra Morales of the Bronx got tangled in underwater tree limbs when she went swimming with relatives.
MTA officers Russell Andreasi and Domingo Ojeda happened to be driving by when relatives pulled Morales from the water.
She initially had no pulse, but the cops performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her and got her breathing again. She was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital after regaining consciousness.
