Power Outages, Frustrations Linger

Thousands of Oyster Bay area residents are still in the dark a week after Hurricane Sandy, and, as temperatures dip, frustrations are on the rise.

Power is out in courts off Hill Drive in Oyster Bay, in Oyster Bay Cove starting at Harbor Road, and in parts of Bayville, to name just a few spots. Power is so spotty in some areas that, sitting in the dark, one has a clearer view of the neighbor's shining lights.

Storm damage in Brookville was particularly bad. LIPA has listed it as a priority but could not give an estimate as to when power would return. 

“There are those areas that have mass devastation--those areas around St. James, those areas around Port Jeff, and those areas around Brookville--that will be longer because there’s so much damage and so many jobs,” said LIPA Representative Mark Gross.

“What we’ll do is we’ll try to clear the deck on all those other jobs outside of those and then we’re going to take the workforce of 7,000 to 8,000 and be able to just flood those areas.”

Warming and charging stations have opened across the Town of Oyster Bay, most recently at St. Dominic's Church on Monday. The majority of people are relying on friends, family, and neighbors for hot showers and clean laundry while waiting for power to return. Those lucky enough to have a generator are faced with long lines at the pump to keep it going.

Many are frustrated with LIPA's response in Nassau County. Rep. Peter King, R-Seaford, demanded that LIPA "immediately remedy its poor customer service and improve its inadequate sharing of information with residents who are still without power," according to Glen Cove Patch.

"LIPA’s failure to keep customers informed of the latest information on conditions and improvements is simply unacceptable," King said.

"County Executive (Edward) Mangano and I have heard so many complaints from many Long Island towns and neighborhoods about the ‘arrogant’ and unhelpful attitude of so many of LIPA employees as well as LIPA’s failure to respond to legitimate inquiries from those without power.”

LIPA says 275,000 total customers are without power as of Monday, excluding customers in the most severely flooded areas. According to LIPA, tens of thousands of customers are being restored daily and 90 percent of customers will be restored by Wednesday.

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