Shoveling out after the storm

Town of Hempstead plows are working to clear the more than two feet that fell in the Five Towns and residents appreciate the effort.

Al Landi of Woodmere noticed the plows had come through at least six times since he’d gotten up Sunday morning. “At 7 a.m., I could hear them working,” he said about the plows. “I had to be up with my wife, who works at Mercy Hospital. I think they are doing an incredible job.”

Landi, who is a retired veteran, said if he were still employed, he’d be concerned about the Long Island Rail Road, which will be running modified service on Monday, but the Far Rockaway branch will most likely not be operating. “Since I’m not working any longer, it doesn’t affect me directly,” he said. “If I were, I’d have to find another way to get into work in the city. I used to help people get out in the snow, and would make a lot of money in these situations.”

Another Woodmere resident, David Rutter, said that overall, he thought the Town of Hempstead did an “outstanding job” clearing the streets, considering how quickly the snow came down and in the time period it did.

“I think we got more snow than was predicted,” he said. “The plows came through very early on and have kept on top of the snowfall, which is good.”

Rutter has a car, but before, he would take the LIRR into Ozone Park and park there, then take the A train to wherever he needed to go in the city. “I can see why a shutdown would be a problem for so many people,” he said. “I hope they can get it operating soon for all the commuters soon. My issue is with parking in this neighborhood. There are so many limited spaces for us residents of my apartment complex to park, and the spots that are available, the streets are plowed and the snow is deposited in such a way that it can be hard to dig out.”

At the height of the storm Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned driving on the Long Island Expressway and Northern State Parkway, and traveling throughout Long Island was discouraged by village, town and county leaders.

A Woodmere resident of the One Club Drive Apartment complex who only wanted to be identified as Grace, and her mother, Shelley, waited out the storm doing crafts and watching their favorite shows. “It was Saturday, so it was already a day off, for me to do whatever I wanted,” Grace said. “I was bored. I mostly watched Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube.”