A fast-moving, severe thunderstorm with high winds and rain came through Huntington Sunday afternoon, downing trees, closing streets and cutting power to several neighborhoods.
PSEG-LI said that as of early Monday morning, approximately 23,834 of its 1.1 million customers across Long Island and the Rockaways are without service. As of 5:15 a.m., the utility has restored service to more than 46,800 customers impacted by yesterday’s significant storm. Of the outages remaining in the town of Huntington, Commack and East Northport appear to be hardest hit.
It said its “crews have been deployed and are assessing damages and have begun repairs. Crews will work to restore critical facilities and outages affecting the largest numbers of customers first. The utility said it is calling in additional personnel, including tree and line crews, to repair damage and restore outages.”
Suffolk County police reminded drivers to be safe if a traffic light is malfunctioning. NYS traffic law requires drivers treat the light as a stop sign. They asked residents to report problem areas to 631-852-COPS.
Huntington Highway Superintendent Kevin Orelli posted on Facebook, “he Town took a direct hit from this storm. We have our emergency crews dispatched to clear roads, and are partnering with PSEG to safely clear trees involved with the power transmission lines. For those who would like to report a downed tree, please contact our Highway Department at 631-499-0444. We will be working until the job is done.”
Residents reported trees down across the Town of Huntington.
One couple near Maplewood Road was busy scraping broken glass where a large tree branch had crashed on top of their car and destroyed the rear window.
On another street, neighbors rushed to help cut up large branches that had fallen on a neighbor’s front lawn. People with leaf blowers, rakes, chainsaws and brooms took to their driveways and lawns to clean up the debris.
- Electric service crews will continue to work through the night to respond to outages safely and as quickly as possible.Information about PSEG Long Island’s restoration process is available athttps://www.psegliny.com/safetyandreliability/stormsafety/afterastorm
- PSEG-LI outage map
As of 7 p.m., PSEG-LI said there were 39,735 customers affected in Huntington, with an estimated restoration time of Monday evening.
On School Street in Huntington Station, a resident pointed out damage to a transformer and said a utility worker had told him that 10 transformers were out of service. On Lenox Road, a neighborhood resident prepared to put his generator to work because of a fire apparently caused by fallen wires that burned tree debris and the roadway.
One block of Dix Hills Road, from Pleasant Street to Healy Street, was taped off because of a large tree limb blocking the northbound lane.
Debris, from small piles of leaves to large branches, could be found on many streets.
The Long Island Rail Road said the storm had caused damage along several branches, including the Port Jefferson line, and that crews were out making repairs. The railroad said that a tree was removed from the tracks east of Northport and service has been restored.
Traffic lights were without power on part of Pulaski Road, while numerous trees were split as they toppled and brought down lines.
On Manor Road, a tree landed on a parked car and completely blocked the southbound lane and most of the northbound lane. Neighbors said someone had driven through police tape on the south side of where the tree landed which led to several cars trying to drive around the tree, only to be blocked by more tape on the north side.