By Hector Flores
Many of those fortunate enough to be at home when the power went out held small block parties late into the night, huddling around backyard barbecues in the dark, flashlights in hand.
There was, however, a deadly serious side to the blackout. Many residents living at home on life-support systems were suddenly without the electricity they needed to maintain their equipment and survive. The Bellmore and Merrick fire departments were out and about throughout the two days, racing to people's homes. Their fire engines could be heard blaring throughout the two communities as they scrambled to pick up residents in need of life support and drop them off at nearby hospitals, which maintained power with emergency generators. Firefighters also provided fuel so residents with their own generators could keep their life-support equipment functioning.
The North Bellmore Fire Department's dispatch center, which handles Merrick, North Merrick, Bellmore, North Bellmore and Lakeview, received more than 80 calls for health-related emergencies during the power crisis. According to William Riley, district supervisor for the North Bellmore Fire District, the majority of the calls related to life-support equipment.
By the blackout's end, the North Bellmore department had lent out six generators and delivered six gallons of gasoline.
"If we have learned anything from all this, it's that people should be prepared," said Riley. "If this was a hurricane, people would be in dire straits. People on life support should have their own portable generator, should have extra gasoline and extra batteries."
Riley added that hurricane season is approaching, and according to recent weather data, the chances of a hurricane hitting Long Island have increased from 36 to 58 percent. "This should be a wake-up call for people to be prepared for a blackout or a hurricane," he said. "Luckily, this blackout was caused by a grid failure, but a hurricane can bring down power lines and cause a blackout for an indefinite period of time."
The Bellmore Fire Department also treated minor emergencies: difficulty breathing and panic attacks. And fire medics received much-needed support from the Bellmore-Merrick Emergency Medical Services and Nassau County EMS, which helped deliver people to local hospitals.
According to Lt. Al Hickey, public information officer for the Bellmore Fire Department, firefighters responded to several automatic fire alarms and one car accident with injuries.
The blackout was also bad for business. Many restaurants and delis had to throw away perishable food because of fears that it might cause food poisoning after going unrefrigerated for several hours.
Tom Valenti, owner of Piccolo Ristorante in Bellmore, said, "We had to get rid of everything that was not kept cool for more than two hours. We started getting busy after 4 p.m. [on Thursday] and sold out on a lot of pies, but after 5 p.m., we sent everyone home for their safety."
Valenti said that despite losing food and business on Thursday, he bounced back by 5 p.m. Friday.
Valenti's experience was similar to that of John Jeong, owner of Blossom Farms Deli, also in Bellmore. Jeong had to get rid of all the salads, milk and meats in his coolers. "As soon as the lights went out, people were buying batteries and ice," he said. "Someone even tried to buy out all the ice, but I told him that we all had to share. I sold one to two bags of ice to every customer and made sure that everyone who needed ice was able to buy it."
Jeong closed his store at 8:30 p.m., but stayed there until 2 a.m. The next day, he reopened at 6 a.m. Although there was no ground coffee available, he boiled water to make flavored and decaffeinated coffee.
For other businesses, like Coleman Country Day Camp, which is in Merrick, just over the Freeport border, closing on Friday was a huge undertaking. The Coleman staff had to call an estimated 1,000 campers to inform them that the camp was shut down. The calls started going out at 6 a.m. Friday. Oddly, the power was on across the street in Freeport.
The Village of Freeport kept the lights on by using its own power plants during the emergency, including the controversial diesel Power Plant No. 2, which is slated to be replaced with a clean-burning natural-gas plant.
Numerous residents of the Merricks and Bellmores crossed into Freeport to pick up supplies like flashlight batteries from retailers such as Home Depot, or filled their cars with gasoline at the many Freeport stations that remained open throughout the blackout. Lines were long, often extending far down surrounding streets, similar to the gas crunch of the 1970s.
Many Long Island Rail Road commuters had to walk home from Freeport, after being let out at the train depot there, or were stranded in Manhattan. Ethan Beckett, 20, of Bellmore, works in uptown Manhattan and was caught at Penn Station. "I stayed inside a City Bank ATM machine service hall with four other people, near Penn Station, " he said. "Since it was indoors, it was cool, but then it got hot. At least it was better than laying out on the street."
On Friday, Beckett woke at 6 a.m. and took a bus to Jamaica, Queens. From there he hopped a second bus that ran along the Long Island Rail Road route, which arrived at Bellmore around 10:30 a.m.
Other local residents fared better. Maureen Grisafi, of Bellmore, works for a major bank in downtown Manhattan, whose building was prepared with its own power generator. "I did not try to go home," she said. "We stayed over and tried to make the most of it. At 10 a.m. the next day, a bunch of us used a cab service, and I got home at around 1 p.m. It was either [that or] walking the Brooklyn Bridge, like 9/11, but I think we did pretty well."
Richard Kessel, chairman of the Long Island Power Authority, said LIPA will review its performance during the blackout. The authority will convene its Major Storm Authority Panel to assess LIPA's ability to handle such a catastrophe. "I am confident that LIPA's performance during the blackout of 2003 was exemplary," said Kessel, of Merrick. "However, there is always room for improvement. The panel will provide valuable insight as to what LIPA can do to fine-tune its emergency response and do an even better job in the future."
