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Community Corner

Residents React to Hurricane Irene Clean Up

Some satisfied with progress in Sachem area.

Hurricane Irene came and went. While some parts of Long Island got hit hard, many areas were fortunate enough not to lose power or suffer from severe damages.

But regardless of the storm's severity in certain towns and cities, people all over are cleaning up the mess that was left behind.

Even in communities like Holtsville, which went largely untouched from massive outages or tree destruction, cleanup has been underway to remove debris from streets and sidewalks and to restore power to those who did actually lose it.

Find out what's happening in Sachemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Many residents such as Mark Benowitz, of Holtsville, said they are satisfied with the progress of cleanup.

"From what I've seen it looks good, but I haven't been to any bad areas," Benowitz said.

Find out what's happening in Sachemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Another resident, who did not want to give her name, agreed with Benowitz.

"So far [my neighborhood] is very clean," she said. "[Other areas] are very damaged, but they are doing very well."

Alan Kerschner's neighborhood in Holtsville did not lose power. He said that although he hasn't seen much damage, he thinks cleanup is going well.

"I think it's been going good," he said. "I didn't lose power so I can't say much ... I have a feeling from the news, though, that it's been going good."

Holtsville resident Carolann Miller said people should be thankful that Long Island was not hit as hard as other areas, and that people should be patient with the cleanup's progress.

"There's so much to do," she said. "I think we just have to appreciate that there wasn't much damage. The fact that some of us have to live without power is better than living without a home."

In the neighborhood across from Gatelot Elementary in Ronkonkoma, neighbors united to move a hefty tree out of the road.

"Two chainsaws, 10 neighbors, one cleaned up tree," Kevin McGuire wrote on Facebook.

Chris R. Vaccaro contributed to this story.

Stay tuned to Patch for more stories from residents on their hurricane cleanup.

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