Blizzard cleanup continues
Pretty as a picture — if you didn’t have to shovel after Thursday’s blizzard.
Thanks to the efficiency of the local highway department, police and a PSEG-LI crew, Islanders had a safe and peaceful day off after Thursday’s blizzard and found themselves able to resume to their normal pace, despite persistent icy temperatures.
Highway Superintendent Jay Card Jr. said road crews stayed ahead of the storm mostly by sanding the roads. Salt was also used to help melt the snow. That improves traction for drivers.
“It was not much of a storm for us,” he said, while admitting the crew worked for many hours and is tired.
That bodes well for what could be a wintry mix of rain and snow Friday night.
Having a PSEG-LI crew on the Island throughout the storm meant power was quickly restored for the few outages that occurred, Police Chief Jim Read said.
At one point, there were four outages at the same time and PSEG-LI was able to handle two at a time. Another outage occurred after a tree limb took out a primary connection, he added.
Both Chief Read and Mr. Card credited the responsiveness of PSEG-LI to keep the Island humming throughout the worst of the storm.
PSEG-LI has taken a number of steps in both tree trimming and new wiring to make the Island less prone to such problems, Mr. Card said, noting that his crew has worked with the PSEG-LI crew in a way that he’s not sure other municipal highway departments are set up to do.
There were no serious accidents on the Island during the storm, Chief Read said.
With school closed both Thursday and Friday, many Islanders headed the advice of government officials to stay off the roads as much as possible. Others may have opted for an unexpected four-day weekend.
