50.0°,
Overcast Power slowly being restored in Valley Stream
About 2,200 outages still reported
A storm brought lots of rain and high winds across Long Island on Saturday, leaving behind moderate damage. Several trees fell in Valley Stream.
As of Tuesday morning, about 2,200 homes and businesses in the Valley Stream area were without power. The Long Island Power Authority was reporting. At its peak on Saturday night, about 7,000 customers in the area were without electricty.
A disabled train just east of Valley Stream on Sunday suspended service on the Far Rockaway line for the second time in two days. By Monday morning, service was back to normal in the area.
On Saturday, power lines fell near the Gibson train station, halting service on the entire Far Rockaway line for several hours.
Gibson Boulevard resident Joanne Pignatelli-O'Neill said at about 11:20 a.m. on Saturday, she heard a loud explosion and saw a big fireball across the street. She then heard a second explosion, and, while on the phone with the fire department, a third.
"I felt the heat from those explosions and I was inside my house," Pignatelli-O'Neill said. "After that flames were arcing on the wires and traveled down block towards Peninsula [Boulevard]. I was afraid that it was going to ignite the houses that back up against the railroad."
Oceanview Avenue resident Debbi Gyulay said a large tree fell on her house (see her submitted photo). The fallen tree didn't cause any damage to the home. "We are lucky to still have electricity," Gyulay said, "since the tree hit our electric wires."
