Strong Winds Create Real Terror on Halloween
By Kyle Barr and David Luces
Gusts upwards of 60 mph struck Long Island Halloween night, bringing down trees and power lines across the North Shore and beyond.
The National Weather service reported areas like Stony Brook saw wind speeds as high as 74 miles per hour from at around 3 a.m. Nov. 1. Stony Brook records its weather data from the top of its Health Science Center at a height of 119 meters off the ground..
PSEG Long Island reported the day after the storm affected over 58,000 homes and businesses. Employees reported clearing 384 trees from wires.
As of 11 a.m. the following morning, the utility company reported 77 percent of customers’ power had been restored, with approximately 12,000 of 1.1 million customers from Long Island to the Rockaways were without service. Somewhat strong winds continued throughout the morning after the storm.
The wind and rain spared trick-or-treaters the evening of Oct. 31, but many stayed home to avoid the worst of the storm.
County Executive Steve Bellone (D) and representatives of PSEG held a press conference Nov. 1 in front of the St. James General Store.
John O’Connell, Vice President of PSEG Long Island, provided the latest update on its power restoration work.
He said this morning PSEG had restored power to 47,000 customers out of a remaining 57,000. The majority of the remaining 10,000 affected customers will have their power by the end of the day, according to O’Connell. Work will continue into tomorrow for smaller jobs as well.
