Lynbrook slammed with snow

Many Lynbrook residents have moved out of the “hunker-down” phase of the year’s first major snowstorm and are now shoveling, snow-blowing and playing in the light, white snow.

Village crews never had the luxury of a hunker-down phase, however, as Department of Public Works vehicles began pre-salting and sanding the roads around 7 p.m. last night and have remained on the roads clearing snow ever since.

DPW Superintendent Phil Healey said that members of his crew are working on 12- to 15-hour shifts through this evening. At the height of the snow clearing, he added, there were 15 plow-capable vehicles on the road.

There are 11 zones in which the crews are distributed, Healey explained, but high winds overnight made work repetitive, with snow drifting back into the roads. “With the blowing snow, it was difficult to achieve the results we wanted,” he said. “The winds controlled the pace of the action.”

Because it was a light snow, however, Healey said, no trees came down, which was one less problem to deal with.

“It was a pretty difficult storm,” he summed up, “but the crews and the equipment performed very well given the conditions. Now that it’s finally stopped snowing and the sun’s out, we can definitely tidy up the areas we were in, open the roads curb to curb and get the parking lots back in shape.”

Though the sun is out this afternoon, not much melting is expected until Sunday, when temperatures are expected to climb into the 40s.