Communities recovering, with many out of power, after Tropical Storm Isaias

It was a relatively short storm, but a powerful one, as Isaias moved up the East Coast and through Long Island Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, more than 300,000 Long Islanders are without power. 

“This storm caused severe damage. Not since Superstorm Sandy has our system experienced this type of wind,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye. The MTA restored much of its service by early Wednesday, including LIRR lines Babylon, Far Rockaway, Hempstead, Huntington, Ronkonkoma, Long Beach, Port Washington and West Hempstead branches. Service remains suspended on the Port Jefferson, Montauk, Oyster Bay and Greenport branches due to fallen trees, downed utility poles and power lines caused by high winds.

The Town of Brookhaven has crews from several major departments responding to incidents across the town, according to a town spokesman. There was significant damage in North Shore communities, as the National Weather Service reported 75 mph winds off of Stony Brook. In Blue Point, the max wind gust was reported at 65 mph around 3 p.m. Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, the town had over 300 trees down that were entangled with wires, which requires a response from PSEG to address. For town residents to report a downed tree or other damage, call 631-451-TOWN or email stormdamage@brookhavenny.gov. For downed wires, or the suspicion of downed wires, call PSEG directly at 1-800-490-0075. There wasn’t significant flooding reported throughout the town. 

Beaches at Davis Park, Great Gun, Ho Hum have red flag conditions as of Wednesday, which prohibits swimming and patrons can only go in the water up to their knees. Other town beaches are operational. The Holtsville pool is closed due to loss of power. 

The Village of Bellport fared well, according to Mayor Ray Fell, with homes above South Country Road without power and only a few south. Though they suffered from down wires and fallen trees, he said, there was no serious damage done to any village property.

Clean-up crews are currently making their way through the brush and branches and the village will be picking up brush put to the curb within the next 2 to 3 weeks. The village, Fell said, is also currently assessing damage done to the bulkhead at the end of Thorne Hedge Road.

“We are just waiting for PSEG now to deal with the electrical outages,” he added. “But thank you, to our residents, for your patience in advance.”

Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri reported that aside from a number of downed trees and power lines, about 25 percent of village residents are still out of power including the south end of River Avenue.

“There are a lot of branches and a number of houses where trees have fallen on to the rooftops of homes,” Pontieri said of his hour ride through the village this morning.

South Ocean is currently closed at Brook Street due to a downed pole and tree and the bulkhead at Shorefront Park suffered some damage due to heavy water.

“But besides that, nothing of any real major concern,” he added also noting that Village Hall was out of power but went back up throughout the night. “I also haven’t heard of any injuries but I think residents still have to be very careful. They shouldn’t go near any branches or any areas where power lines are down. It doesn’t take much for someone to get hurt.”

The village will be cleaning brush and removing piles over the next five days or so. If a village tree has fallen on private property, the village will remove it only if it hasn’t done any damage to a structure. If damage was done to a structure, Pontieri said, call your insurance company and have them contact the village’s insurance.