Brookhaven Officials Continue Assessing Irene Storm Damage

While assessing damage left behind by Hurricane Irene Thursday in an area of Gordon Heights, Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko reacted to LIPA’s planning, or lack thereof, over the last week.

“They’ve been critical of themselves,” he said. “It seems as if there was a communications breakdown they have to fix. They didn’t appear to be out working with our guys immediately.”

Lesko said LIPA was roughly 36 hours behind where Brookhaven needed them to be in the township. According to Lesko, originally there were 62,000 homes left without power in the wake of the storm. That number dropped to 8,000 by Thursday afternoon.

“There may be reasons for that,” said Lesko of the sluggish reaction time, “but they can explain that. I don’t know why.”

Lesko said LIPA was not answering phone calls from Brookhaven.

“It was an emergency response issue in terms of the county and the town being able to coordinate with LIPA,” he said, “and we just weren’t [able to] until about Tuesday afternoon.”

Joined by Brookhaven Councilwoman Connie Kepert and Highway Superintendent John Rouse, Lesko spoke with a homeowner in Gordon Heights who has a tree and power lines down in front of her home, located off Middle Country Road.

“People were anxious, now they’re angry,” he said. “It was a major major storm. I like to get out and get eyes on and see the damage myself. It’s important for the folks to know government officials are out here in the street and trying to work with them.”

Traffic signal outages were a major concern earlier in the week, but Lesko said they’re down to just a handful of signals, as of Thursday, that are either out or running on a generator.

“Right now it seems like everything is coming back to normal,” he said. 

Levy Urging Feds to Expand Disaster Declaration

Suffolk Exec. Steve Levy this week urged the Obama Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to expand New York State disaster declaration to make Suffolk and Nassau residents eligible for Individual Assistance (IA), according to a statement released by Levy’s office.

Currently, Suffolk and Nassau governments are eligible for reimbursement through Public Assistance (PA), but area residents and businesses have not been made eligible for IA aid, Levy said.

“The difference between not having the opportunity for assistance and having access to IA will have a major impact for those residents who were hit hardest by Hurricane Irene,” said Levy in a statement. “An IA declaration by the federal government will provide access to crisis counseling, legal service, small business loans and food.”