Police Chief Jim Read: Emergency plan for Island in place

As of 11 a.m. PSEG was reporting five outages on the Island due to the storm, but the power company didn’t give locations.

Police Chief Jim Read, who is also Shelter Island’s Emergency Management Coordinator, told the Reporter late this morning that power outages are his greatest concern “especially for the senior community and the frail elderly. But the senior center is open and staffed in case of [widespread] outages.”

As the storm has intensified and forecasts speak of blizzard conditions for the rest of the day, Chief Read said there have been no emergencies.

“We’re continuing to bang on the wood,” he added.

The chief said there had been a meeting in town hall yesterday with Supervisor Gary Gerth and Highway Superintendent Jay Card Jr. to go over an emergency plan and put in place.

The chief will have a conference call with PSEG officials at 3 p.m. today.

The power company had a crew come over yesterday afternoon and spend the night to be ready to go to work if there are outages.