141,000 Nassau Residents Still Without Power In Isaias' Aftermath

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — More than 141,000 were still without power Wednesday morning as Nassau County continued to recover from Tropical Storm Isaias.

According to PSEG Long Island, there were 141,608 homes and businesses in Nassau County without power as of 11 a.m., representing 29 percent of the county.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said that while the storm did not hit Long Island for very long, it hit hard. There were sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts of nearly 80 mph. On Tuesday, there were 388 wires down, 144 traffic hazards and hundreds of road closures, Curran said.

The county's main responsibility was removing trees from county roads, Curran said, adding more than 1,000 trees were downed by the storm. The Nassau County Department of Public Works deployed 30 crews working nonstop since the storm to clear roadways.

Curran said as of Wednesday morning, the county cleared trees from all of its roads, except for areas where utility crews were operating. Those areas are expected to be cleared when the utility work is complete.

Due to the massive power outages, there are many traffic lights without power. Some at major intersections have had generators hooked up, and some intersections have police officers stationed there. But if you come to a traffic light that is out, treat it as a four-way stop sign.

Curran said it was "completely unacceptable" that so many people were without power, and that it was so hard to get in contact with PSEG.

"Of course, we expect some of that with a storm," she said. "But it's really the information and the difficulty in communicating with PSEG and getting information to PSEG which our residents are finding incredibly frustrating. So it's my No. 1 priority now to open up those lines of communication, to make sure people are getting information and to get the answers from PSEG that people really need."

Her sentiments were echoed by Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin, who said his office received numerous calls and messages from residents who couldn't get in touch with PSEG.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation for tens of thousands of our residents without power and very little information when they are already contending with the stresses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Clavin said. “Isaias was a strong storm, but what would have happened if we experienced hurricane conditions? PSEG Long Island needs to answer for their failures and ensure that their mistakes are not repeated for the next major storm event.”

Clavin said he is asking the governor to investigate PSEG Long Island's response to the storm to find out how communication failed and what can be done to make sure it doesn't happen again.

“I’m asking the governor to have the appropriate state authorities investigate PSEGLI’s utter failure during this storm,” Clavin said. “PSEG Long Island was brought on to correct the mistakes of the past, but Isaias exposed a series of flaws that resulted in a botched response. This is unacceptable. Customers deserve answers, not a busy signal.”

PSEG Long Island attributed its communication problems to an issue it was having with Verizon, and said it was working to solve the problem.