Nor'easter blows through Franklin Square and Elmont

Schools in Franklin Square and Elmont were closed on Dec. 17, after a powerful nor'easter whipped across Nassau County, dumping 3 to 6 inches of snow on the South Shore and 4 to 8 on the North Shore. The snow, at times, mixed with light rain, leaving a thin sheen of ice atop the white stuff.

Road conditions were better on main thoroughfares, worse on side streets. The Town of Hempstead deployed 165 plow trucks, more than 40 payloaders, 40 pickup trucks and two tractor trailers in preparation for the storm. The town  also rented an additional 13 pickup trucks with detachable plows to service the entire township.

As of 8 a.m. Thursday, snow still appeared to be falling lightly, and wind gusts remained strong. 

Students did not have to  attend school remotely in Franklin Square, Elmont or Sewanhaka, and Franklin Square Superintendent Jared Bloom said district officials will provide more information about making up the day at a later time.  If the Franklin Square school district needs to declare any other snow days later in the school year, however, he said, the district will "utilize remote learning for all students  rather than taking additional days from the spring recess."

The Long Island Rail Road was running 10 to 15 behind schedule systemwide. NICE Bus also reported delays.

PSEG-LI reported that about 3,300 Long Islanders lost power overnight, with 150 outages on Thursday morning. There was one outage reported in Elmont, according to the utility's outage map,  but crews expect to get the power back up by 5:30 p.m.