Spring storm strikes Island; no injuries, but downed trees and wires

Shelter Island Highway Department crews, under the direction of Superintendent Brian Sherman, worked Monday into the night, clearing downed trees, as a spring storm of high winds and rain rushed through the Island.

Most of the trees that were brought crashing to the ground, bringing down wires and blocking roads, were in the Center, Mr. Sherman said, with Lake Drive, Sunshine Road, Smith Street and Menantic Road the hardest hit thoroughfares.

“We had two trees completely uprooted,” Mr. Sherman said, describing the velocity of the wind.

There were no injuries, but damage to parked vehicles and scattered power outages, mostly in the Center, have since been restored.

“It was a long day and night,” Mr. Sherman said, but a successful one for the department, which cleared roads quickly and efficiently.

On Tuesday morning, Mr. Sherman said he and his crew would be out “cleaning up some small stuff that’s left.”

The storm hit Mr. Sherman personally. When he got home last night after working for hours, he found a tree crashed down on his brand-new Toyota Highlander.

With a wry comment on his sense of timing, he noted that he had just traded in two old vehicles for the new one.

The Highlander is so new, he said, “I haven’t even made the first payment on it.”