UPDATE: Fast and furious storm downs trees and power lines
PSEG-LI workers were hustling on South Ferry Road shortly after 9 a.m. to untangle broken tree limbs from downed wires to repair a major break just north of Heritage Drive.
Power went out in the Center just before noon and was out for almost an hour. PSEG-LI’s outage map showed much of the Island going out then and Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr. reported that burned wires were resulting in restoring power.But he confirmed that his crew was moving from site to site to help clear debris while firefighters and police were helping to direct traffic while the PSEG workers could work to restore power.
The major outage on South Ferry Road involved a three-phase line that took down customers throughout the southern part of the Island, according to Town Engineer John Cronin.
But by noon time, the outages on the Island appearing on PSEG-LI’s map were showing most of the Island experiencing major blackouts that gradually were restored.
Below is the original Reporter post:
The first major storm during this year’s hurricane season, while not a named storm, packed high winds and heavy rain throughout the East End beginning about 5 a.m. today and moving rapidly.
Second Assistant Fire Chief Anthony Reiter, on the scene on South Ferry Road where a major line was down cutting power to as many as 1,000 customers, predicted a tough season if today’s storm was any indication of what’s to come.
While the National Weather Service said winds averaged about 50 mph, some firefighters thought they could have been as high as 85 mph.
Shelter Island Firefighters began responding about 6 a.m. to alarms set off by downed wires throughout the town. PSEG was expected to spend much of the day moving from site to site to cut back and remove broken tree limbs so they could restore the damaged power lines.
The worst of the problems, according to PSEG, were on South Ferry Road just north of Heritage Drive where that major line was hit by downed trees and across Big Ram Island. Outages in each of those areas were estimated at between 500 and 1,000.
Montclair Colony saw between 51 and 500 outages, while the west side of the Island and Shelter Island Heights were spared with between 5 and 50 outages.
Although the storm lasted less than an hour, its wallop resulted in so many downed trees and limbs throughout the area that some firefighters wondered if tornadoes had hit the town. A caller from Big Ram reported seeing what appeared to be funnels and wondered about tornadoes.
But the National Weather Service at Upton had no such reports.
The Weather Service was warning of strong riptides and possible flooding on the South Shore throughout the day.
