Rockville Centre digs out after storm

The winter finally arrived, and it was a whopper.

The first snow storm of 2016 dropped nearly two feet of snow on Rockville Centre and shut down the village for most of the weekend. Mayor Francis X. Murray declared a state of emergency on Saturday, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo shut down all roads on Long Island.

Though the winds were fierce, residents managed to weather the storm and dig themselves out on Sunday. The village DPW was out in force during the storm, continually plowing roads to stop snow from piling up too much.

“I would like to thank all of our village employees for their tireless efforts on behalf of our residents and businesses,” said Murray who, as acting village administrator, was also on-hand for the duration of the storm. “Many of our employees worked throughout the night and day to prepare for the storm and continued to work during and after the event. This dedication and professionalism is what makes our village great. I especially want to thank our workers at the Department of Public Works, Office of Emergency Management, Electric Department, Water Department, and IT Department for their outstanding response. I would also like to thank our volunteer fire department who stayed on call for countless hours to answer the needs of our residents, as well as our police department.”

The village’s electric department reported that there were two separate outages during the storm: the first affected approximately 50 customers and was fixed within two hours. The second affected only one customer, and was also fixed within two hours.

“It is my hope that winter goes out like a lamb and we have seen the last of significant snow,” said Murray. “However, if we should be impacted by another event, be assured that the village remains prepared to respond.”