Storm leaves thousands without power

Hurricane Irene has passed through Long Island, leaving some flooding and numerous trees and branches down. The rains have stopped but gusty winds are still expected for the next several hours.

The Long Island Power Authority is reporting power outages all across Long Island, but slowly the lights are coming back on. In the Valley Stream area, about 6,500 customers were without electricity at about 1 p.m. on Sunday, down from more than 9,000 earleier.

The Town of Hempstead has opened two local senior centers, Franklin Square at 1182 Martha Place and Elmont at 183 Elmont Road, for residents who do not have power. These centers can operate on generator power and provide lights, air conditioning and basic amenities for all residents.

Joey Ford said he woke up to find no power at his home on Sunday, as well as two trees down on the property. And Teri DeAngelis said she heard a loud noise before the power went out.

Nassau County police had suspended patrols for about two hours, between 5 and 7 a.m., when sustained winds exceeded 55 mph, because of hazardous road conditions. Police were still available for emergency calls. Officers are back on the streets now.

All Long Island Rail Road and MTA bus service remains suspended.

Valley Stream Highway Superintendent Tim Leahy said there are about 30 trees down in the village, plus countless branches. "It's bad enough," he said. "Not as bad as we thought it would be."

Leahy said the damage from the March 2010 Nor'easter was much worse than what Irene caused this weekend.

By opening the gate at Hendrickson Park to allow water to flow through the lake and the streams, it prevented another flood at the administraton building. Leahy said although some water got inside the building, it was only an inch or two compared with the three feet of the Aug. 14 rainstorm.

"We took a lot of preventative measures," he said, "and it paid off for us."

Gibson resident Joe Margolin said there were no reports of coastal flooding the area that had been deemed the "high-risk" flood zone by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"We now have had two such storms hitting Long Island directly in less than 75 years and neither resulted in the flooding of Gibson," he said, "in addition to the massive rain storm two weeks ago.

Send your storm damage photos to ahackmack@liherald.com.