Franklin Square, Elmont rocked by super storm

by Matt Hampton

Franklin Square and Elmont residents, like the rest of Nassau County, spent the early part of the work week cleaning up after the storm that downed trees and power lines, damaged homes and left more than 250,000 people on Long Island without power.

“It was a disaster,” said Elmont civic leader Pat Nicolosi. “I’m looking at my neighbor’s house — he lost part of his roof, his awning ... You look around and you see all the damage — I don’t know anyone who wasn’t affected by the storm.”

Sen. Charles Schumer and other officials were calling for emergency funds and services to be diverted to Long Island, to aid an area that was already reeling after a spate of February snowstorms. Schumer called for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to immediately begin damage assessments.

“This weekend’s storm did some very serious damage and will require a major recovery and cleanup effort that is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars,” Schumer said. “We need FEMA on the ground as soon as possible to assess the damage and work with state and local emergency officials so we can fast-track federal disaster aid to help the municipalities whose cleanup budgets were already stretched to the limit after this winter’s record snowstorms.”

For Franklin Square and Elmont, the most pressing emergencies were power, transportation and a lack of information. Some residents lost cars to falling trees, while others were forced to change their normal driving routes because of blocked lanes. Those who left their homes were unsure of whether they would have power when they returned.

Many streets, including all four lanes of Franklin Avenue south of Hempstead Turnpike, were still blocked by downed trees on Monday afternoon. A huge tree fell across Franklin at 6 p.m. Saturday in the gale-force winds that buffeted the South Shore, according to police who were directing traffic in the area.

Everyone, including the officers, seemed chastened by the toll the storm took. “What we had this weekend was a warning to the town and the county and the state that we’re not prepared,” Nicolosi said. “For a tree to be sitting across a major thoroughfare for three days? We’re not prepared. It should be a wakeup call.”

Aside from police, fire and first responders, Nicolosi said, the county’s reaction to the storm was lacking. “They just didn’t respond quickly enough,” he said. “I didn’t lose power, but on the other side of Franklin Avenue the power was down for a long time. The response was ridiculous. They should have been out working Saturday, and they weren’t.”

Work crews from the Town of Hempstead and the county were stretched thin over the weekend and into Monday, with crews working to clean up toppled trees and light poles and downed electrical wires. Even on busy thoroughfares like Hempstead Turnpike, dead electrical cables were still splayed across the sidewalk Monday morning while crews struggled to clear fallen lamp posts, garbage cans and planters.

Vincent Toma, president of the Norwood Park Civic Association, said many of his Franklin Square neighbors were very upset about the difficulty they had getting in touch with the Long Island Power Authority. “Most of the people in Franklin Square, according to what they’re telling me, they’re seeing no LIPA trucks, nobody out working to restore power,” Toma said. “I spoke to people who aren’t sure if they’re sleeping in their homes tonight or if they’re staying with a relative in Brooklyn who has power.”

Toma said that he lost power for 24 hours, and that many of his neighbors still had no power on Monday morning. He also said that because so many people were without access to television or the Internet, they were depending on their neighbors to find out the latest information.

“We’re going old-school: People are passing information on to neighbors, and that’s how they’re learning what’s going on,” he said. “We have a situation where one neighbor is helping two or three others by bringing a generator so that two or three families can share power.”

Toma said that while it was nice to see neighbors helping one another, the best-case scenario would be for local utilities and agencies to get on the scene faster. “There definitely could have been better assistance in Franklin Square,” he said. “It’s a situation where you’re getting minute-by-minute updates, it’s uncertainty, and people are trying to plan accordingly.”

Defending the response from LIPA and the town, Councilman Ed Ambrosino said the destruction across the area was vast, much greater than anyone was prepared for. “The storm was much worse than we thought, some of the damage was much more extensive than we thought it was going to be, and we’re left trying to deal with nature’s vengeance,” Ambrosino said. “People are out of power and we realize that. We’re doing our best. We’re trying to help the senior citizens, pregnant women, people who have an immediate health care need first.”

Ambrosino acknowledged that communication had been difficult in the area and that answers weren’t always forthcoming. “We don’t have an answer in every scenario because we don’t know, and we don’t want to spread false information,” he said. After going on a neighborhood patrol Saturday night, he said it seemed clear to him that downed trees, power lines, and a loss of cell phone service in some areas were among the most pressing needs for his constituents.

Assemblyman Tom Alfano (R-North Valley Stream) was in Albany on Monday, but said his office is committed to fielding calls and helping residents with their most pressing issues in the wake of the storm. “Our office is continuing to respond to calls from constituents who have lost power and have had trees fall,” Alfano said through a spokesman. “We’re working closely with the Town of Hempstead to get these problems fixed and get the community back to normal.”

The routine was definitely not back to normal on Monday for parents of schoolchildren, with schools in the Franklin Square School District closed. But Toma praised the district’s preparedness, saying the school managed to send out an automated phone call to parents, informing them of the closure, despite the power failure.

In Elmont, only Alden Terrace School was closed. Officials in Elmont’s district office said its reopening would be contingent on power being restored to the building. Willow Road School in District 13 was also closed because of the power outage.

Gov. David Paterson released a statement advising residents to use caution around downed trees and power lines. “Our first concern is for the safety of our citizens,” Paterson said. “If you see a downed wire, do not touch it. Consider the wire to be live and report the location to your utility. People should exercise caution while driving and pay attention to local emergency officials’ orders.”

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