Driving sleet and high winds of up to 50 mph today are compounding Long Island’s existing misery in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
All the way in Montauk, desperate owners of oceanfront motels pushed to the brink by Sandy frantically tried to shore up their teetering structures before today’s storm. Sand bags packed the back ends of places like the Royal Atlantic where staffers tried to avoid getting knocked out completely by today’s Nor-easter.
In Sagaponack, Billy Joel’s efforts to shore up his Gibson Lane property looked to be faltering as the ocean began to strip away the extra sand he placed in front of it already.
Meanwhile, LIPA announced that the outages that have outraged those still without power crept up in the nor’easter’s wake as more than 170,000 people arose both counties were without power at midday, the utility announced.
Tempers are flaring as flooded out, powerless, out of gas LIers stumble though the tenth of day of misery. “This is becoming unbearable said Kristi McAllister of Island Park as she shielded her eyes from driving sleet as a pile of her flood destroyed belongings sat in a snow coated pile in front of her home. “This is the last thing we needed. I don’t even want to think about how much longer we have to go through this.”
Dreaded flooding has already begun in low lying areas like Freeport in Nassau County.
Residents are less concerned about power than they are about dipping temperatures tonight because of the storm. Many have been leaving ovens on to stay warm but fear that temperatures could become dangerous overnight. Yolanda Dixon, 28, of Long Beach, said that she has not had any power of heat for days. “When you start to shiver at night it gets scary,” she said. “We just want this to end, we just want to be normal again.”
Also, gas lines around Long Island continued to swarm with angry motorists and canister wielding homeowners trying to keep their generators running. Cops remained stationed at pumps where incidents from knife pulling customers to punch throwing drivers have become commonplace.
“No power and no gas,” said John Reyes of Hempstead as he waited around the corner from a pump. “This is a bad combination. Your life stops and there is really nothing you can do about it.”