Oceanside, Island Park residents cope in storm's wake

Oceanside and Island Park residents are dealing with the aftermath of a major storm that blew through the area last weekend, downing trees and power lines and leaving many residents in the dark for hours or, in some cases, days. The storm brought hurricane-force winds and rain through the area Saturday, saturating the ground and flooding some low-lying areas.

Cleanup efforts were expected to continue well into next week. Victoria Ramalho of Ramalho Tree Service in Oceanside said her company had received more than 200 calls about fallen trees on Sunday alone. "The phones have been unbelievable," Ramalho said Monday morning. "I can't hang up before the next line is ringing."

Bob and Betsy Transom, who live on Columbus Avenue in Oceanside, will be scheduling an assessment of the damage done to their property when three large evergreens — two in their backyard and one in front of their neighbor's house — fell on Saturday. The backyard trees fell onto the house behind the Transoms, damaging the front porch, and part of the tree on their neighbor's property fell on the Transoms' garage. Additionally, heavy winds tore their locked screen door and its frame from the front of the house. And like many other residents, the Transoms lost power from Saturday night until Sunday morning.

"I've lived here all my life and I've never seen sustained winds like this," said Bob Transom, adding that even during monsoon season in Thailand, where he served during the Vietnam War, he did not witness winds this strong.

Large trees blocked other major thoroughfares in Oceanside last weekend. As of Monday morning, crews were still assessing the damage caused when several large trees fell on Skillman Avenue in front of Oceanside High School. The high school canceled its sports night on Saturday due to the weather, but all schools opened at their regular time on Monday morning.

Lincoln Orens Middle School in Island Park was closed on Monday due to a power outage and a fire in the school's backup generator. James Ruzicka Jr., chief of the Island Park Fire Department, said it appeared that the generator overheated due to excessive use. According to Ruzicka, the building was inspected on Monday and the school was expected to reopen on Tuesday.

Ruzicka said the Fire Department had received more than 100 storm-related calls from Saturday morning to Monday morning. Over the weekend, he said, the department evacuated a few houses due to fallen trees and power lines.

The firehouse also lost power from Saturday morning to Monday morning. By Monday, most of the major damage had been cleared, but Ruzicka said that with the ground still saturated, the problem going forward would be unstable trees.

Trees fell on Quebec Road in Island Park, but Mayor Jim Ruzicka said that most of the damage had been cleaned up by Monday morning. "We had extensive tree damage throughout the village, some coastal flooding, a lot of erosion on the beaches," Ruzicka said. "The fire department has been going nonstop since the storm. They do a great job."

Oceanside Fire Department spokesman Ed Scharfberg said the department had responded to more than 160 storm-related calls between Saturday morning and Monday afternoon. "But as of Sunday morning," Scharfberg said, "most power had been restored." The department was still fielding storm-related calls on Monday, but the call volume had decreased considerably. Luckily, Scharfberg said, no injuries were reported during the storm.

Lingering power outages remained in both Oceanside and Island Park on Monday. That night, the Long Island Power Authority reported more than 1,000 remaining outages in Island Park and more than 2,000 in Oceanside.

At a press conference on Monday, LIPA president Kevin Law said the company expected to have power restored to all residents by Wednesday night at the latest, and Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray said crews would be working around the clock to clear streets of debris. By Wednesday afternoon, LIPA reported 927 remaining outages in Oceanside and 117 in Island Park.

To report a power outage or for information updates, LIPA customers are asked to call (800) 490-0075 or visit www.lipower.org.

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