Thursday, October 1, 2026
Around 20 inches of snow blanketed Freeport during a blizzard that started on Sunday, according to the Village of Freeport, and continued into the following day, forcing public school buildings to close on Monday and Tuesday and a comprehensive snow removal effort that is ongoing.
Mayor Robert Kennedy and the Freeport Emergency Management Office advised residents to stay off the roads and be prepared to plow walkways as snow continued to fall Monday afternoon.
Freeport Public Schools announced: "Due to inclement weather, all Freeport Schools will be closed on Feb. 23," including all afternoon and evening activities. The school district also decided to keep buildings closed on Tuesday, but held classes remotely for all schools rather than cancel them outright.
The Roosevelt School District also announced that all in-person instruction would be canceled across all school facilities on Monday, and later announced that schools would remain closed on Tuesday as well.
Schools in both districts re-opened on Wednesday, but all after-school extracurricular activities were canceled for Freeport schools, due to additional morning snowfall.
The National Weather Service had forecasted about 15 to 20 inches of snow with winds up to 30 mph and gusts up to 60 mph. This week’s storm met forecasted predictions and had nearly doubled the impact of the late January snowstorm.
Village officials urged residents to keep their cars off the roads as much as possible so that snow removal vehicles could plow snow from curb to curb without trapping cars. But for some residents, the village’s snow removal efforts left much to be desired.
“We’ve had between 40 and 50 people on duty 24 hours a day since noon Sunday through the present,” said Department of Public Works Assistant Supervisor Benjamin Terzulli on Tuesday afternoon. “Those dozens of workers have put out more than 400 tons of sand and salt to keep the roads safe.”
The Village stated that its sand and salt supply has been nearly depleted, but they expected to receive another delivery of salt later on Tuesday, which Mayor Kennedy said was from a supplier in Staten Island, to meet further snow removal needs in the community.
Terzulli gave a reminder that shoveling one’s driveway or walkway needs to be done safely by residents, especially with the large volume of snow that was in the area. He encourages residents to try to help out other neighbors if they are struggling to shovel or traverse the snowy landscape.
On Monday evening, when the snowfall had largely ceased, residents said that plowing services had either been scant or non-existent on their streets since the morning.
“They have to do better,” Freeport resident Asia Wynter. “Going down the middle of the street once isn’t it.”
“For the most part, the roads all suck incredibly,” resident Gary De Jesus said. “Only main roads like Sunrise (Highway) and the parkways are clean and clear. It is a slushy mess on Merrick Road, and a lot of the side streets are either fully iced out or a dry, crumbled, frozen mess.”
Other residents voiced their displeasure with some village trucks plowing snow directly onto sidewalks or properties, making it difficult for them to do their own proper clean up. Deke Adler was one such disgusted resident who was annoyed with the village’s cleanup efforts, and went to social media to express his frustrations.
“You don’t want people pushing snow into the roads, but it’s perfectly fine dropping an entire block’s worth of snow in front of a corner house,” he wrote.
Some residents had more favorable outlooks on the storm and the village’s response when compared to January’s snowstorm.
“I think they did a better job than the last storm,” Melanie Donnelly said, who lives on Lexington Avenue. “I have seen the plows going down our street many times today. It is a lot of snow, and I know they have been working very hard since yesterday, and I appreciate their hard work.”
Kennedy and Terzulli wants to assure residents that the Village is constantly re-evaluating its snow procedures so that everything possible is done to keep residents safe and the roads clear.
“We are utilizing every available resource to tackle this storm, and will continue to do so for as long as it takes.”
Across Long Island, the Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSEG) Long Island branch, announced that over 15,000 out of their 1.2 million Long Island customers suffered outages due to downed wires and trees from the storm. PSEG stated that they recognize the loss of power creates hardships for many, and “appreciates customers’ patience and understandings as crews work to restore electric service.”
In the event of any weather-related incidents that need special attention, residents may call the Village of Freeport Police Department at (516) 377-0700 or 911 for emergency services.
