Although Hurricane Sandy, dubbed 'Frankenstorm' for its Halloween week debut, isn't expected to hit Long Island until Sunday night, but town, county and other officials are already preparing for her aftermath.
Town of Hempstead
Staff members are servicing tree removal equipment and chain saws, as well as drain cleaning equipment.
Trucks and street sweepers are ready to go, and marina staff is removing town boats from the water. Town officials are reminding residents not to rake leaves into the street. This is critical during fall storms, as leaves can cause blockages in the storm drain system and result in flooding. Residents are also reminded to use caution when leaving their homes after the storm.
Fallen trees often cause downed utility lines, which can present life-threatening hazards. Officials also request that residents follow any directives from emergency management personnel as the storm draws closer to ensure their safety.
Nassau County
In issuing a Hurricane Preparedness Precautionary Alert, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano reminded residents about the importance of assembling an Emergency Go-Kit and of having a Family and Friends Sheltering Plan in place.
Emergency Go-Kits should be kept by front doors in a duffel bag and include enough supplies for everyone in the household for five (5) days, including:
- First aid kit. Pack a “how to” guide as well.
- Essential prescription and nonprescription items and medical information.
- Battery-powered flashlight and radio (or crank radio), extra batteries and a 12-hour glow stick.
- A change of clothes, plus rainwear, sturdy shoes and protective gloves for everyone.
- Personal items, eyeglasses and personal care items.
- Important documents in a waterproof container: drivers’ licenses, wills, birth/marriage certificates, insurance policies, deed or lease papers, recent tax returns, credit card and bank account numbers, Social Security cards, Passport and Home inventory list
- Make sure you have special items for infants, elderly persons, pets or loved ones with special needs.
Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and National Grid also continue to monitor the path of the hurricane. LIPA urges customers to prepare for possible multi-day outages.
LIPA’s walk-in customer service centers will be closed Monday and Tuesday and may be closed through the end of the week in order for those customer representatives to assist in the restoration efforts.
Customers should call 1-800-490-0025 to check the status of the centers to make sure they are open.
Customers without power can also call 1-800-490-0075. Customers are encouraged to pre-register their cell phones in order to report outages and receive restoration updates via text. To register, please text REG to 695472 (myLIPA). After registration, to report an outage please text OUT to 695472 (myLIPA).
NICE Bus
NICE bus will be monitoring the severe weather forecast for Nassau, Suffolk and Queens counties on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, especially for the potential of roadway flooding. Weather and road conditions may cause delays and service interruptions. Service on routes that include areas susceptible to flooding, and which could become impassable, may be impacted.
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road ackowledges that during hurricane season, weather and the damage associated with it is severe enough, their only options may be to reduce or suspend train service temporarily on a line or line segment.
- Call our Travel Information Center by dialing 511 and saying "LIRR." The Travel Information Center will be fully staffed, and there will also be a taped message describing our current service conditions. Please be aware that the volume of calls at the Travel Information Center will dramatically increase during a weather emergency, and you may experience delays getting through.
- Pick up a current LIRR timetable, as it will provide you with a frame of reference for train departure times at your station if severe weather requires us to run other than our normal schedule.
- Use CooCoo for real-time train status and schedule information.
- Customers may sign up for free email service updates to stay informed.
- Hempstead Town Public Safety
- Nassau County Hurricane Information
- LIPA Storm Center
- NICE Bus
- Long Island Rail Road
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