Devastated by the double whammy of Sandy and a nor’easter, cold, powerless Long Islanders hit the streets to rail against LIPA as the Nassau County executive said the situation is “beyond urgent.”
“We want answers!” residents of Oceanside — which was socked with 6 inches of snow this week after being ravaged by Sandy’s surges — demanded at a rally outside School 8 yesterday.
They booed Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and Hempstead’s town supervisor, accusing them of not making enough noise on their behalf.
Despite line crews working round the clock, LIPA hasn’t given a timetable for power restoration for the more than 170,000 customers still in the dark.
In Oceanside and nearby Island Park, frozen residents, some now homeless, huddled around garbage-drum fires for warmth and appealed to FEMA for help.
After a recent meeting with the agency, one Island Park woman tried to remain upbeat, with a Facebook posting that read: “It brought me to tears to see so many of us looking hungry, dirty, desperate, helpless and tired, but not one person complained.”
“Even many said it could have been worse — and some if not most lost everything.”
At a press conference with federal, state and local officials, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said, “Long Island’s power is past the point of crisis . . . To put it in terms that Washington can readily understand, LIPA’s power is at Defcon 2. The condition is beyond urgent.”
Rep. Peter King, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, called LIPA’s performance “completely abysmal.”
Private volunteers from all over the country have begun to arrive with aid — including doctors from Michigan and Colorado and two paramedics, sent by FEMA from St. Louis, who have slept in an ambulance for eight days in Oceanside.
Volunteers from Island Harvest Foods yesterday headed out to distribute 20,000 sandwiches and drinks to Oceanside, Island Park and surrounding towns.