Tree felled by storm damages Havens House: Interior spared, new renovations intact

As the Island celebrated the nation’s 250th anniversary on a festive and joyful July 4th, one of its historical focal points took a hit from the storm that swept in Saturday night.

While bringing welcome relief from the heat wave, its winds and rain brought down trees and caused damage, notably to the Shelter Island HistoryMuseum’s 18th-century core, Havens House.

Fortunately, according to the Museum’s Executive Director, Nanette Lawrenson, the damage was less than it could have been, despite the size of the tree that crashed down onto and beside the structure.

“We were very lucky. Ben Smith and his crew just finished carpentry and painting on Friday,” she said. “I got the alarm call around 11:15 p.m. and the Shelter Island Police reviewed the site with me. Nothing was damaged inside. A small exterior window panel, some trim and gutter damage.”

Since 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, fallen trees from heavy rainfall have been reported across the Island. All but one major collapse has been handled, according to Highway Superintendent Ken Lewis, who spoke with the Reporter while he was at the scene of a fallen tree on North Menantic Road.

“It’s a big maple tree. It’s taken down the primary line, and it’s got the secondary line going to another house, too. It’s tangled in there pretty good,” he explained. Mr. Lewis said the Shelter Island Police Department had already contacted PSEG about the outage, since his crew cannot begin working on the downed tree until PSEG crews de-energize the wires and remove the branches from them. “Then they’ll call our guys to clean up the rest of it,” he added.

However, as of 11 a.m., Mr. Lewis said officers on the scene had not yet received an ETA from PSEG crews, who were handling an outage in the Heights. According to PSEG’s Outage Map, crews had already arrived on scene in the Heights and were working to restore power. “Damage to Utility Equipment” was cited as the primary reason for the outage, with no fallen trees at the scene.

As for the rest of the Island, Lewis said damage was minor. The first call came in around 10 o’clock Saturday night, when police reported a downed tree near Wades Beach. “Our crew went out last night because the road was blocked. There were no wires involved, so they were able to push it off the road. We’ll do the remainder of the cleanup today,” Mr. Lewis said. He added that another tree had fallen on the road leading to Crescent Beach; however, “It never really made it into the road, as it was on the shoulder a little bit. So we didn’t really have to address that immediately.”

Mr. Lewis said the department will spend the rest of the day clearing smaller debris, like leaves and sticks, left by last night’s storm. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Flood Watch, which, mixed with recent dry conditions, could lead to flooding in the coming days. Rain is expected to begin this afternoon, with the NWS citing a possibility of “2 to 4 inches” of rain, along with “multiple rounds of heavy showers and thunderstorms.”

Mr. Lewis explained, “It really depends on how fast it comes down. We need the rain, but when the ground gets this dry and hard, if the rain comes too fast, it’s going to create flooding in certain spots.”

Working to address these concerns, he said his crews will work through the rain to clear drains. “We just want to make sure we’re ready for anything, especially if there are leaves and sticks left over from last night’s storm,” he said.