Irene: 190,000 on Long Island Still in the Dark

Four days after Tropical Storm Irene made landfall on Long Island, about 190,000 customers still remain without power in Nassau and Suffolk counties, the Long Island Power Authority said.

That's still nearly 16 percent of the total, LIPA said. The Hicksville, N.Y.-based utility also revised slightly downward its estimate of customers affected by Irene to 523,000 from a previous 571,000.

LIPA provides electricity to virtually all of Long Island, save for several villages like Freeport, Greenport and Rockville Centre with municipal power plants.

Irene left behind a level of damage that we have not seen on Long Island in almost 30 years, the public utility said. LIPA was created by New York after the former Long Island Lighting Co. collapsed after constructing the never-opened Shoreham nuclear facility in Suffolk County.

LIPA worked closely with the Long Island Rail Road, which said it expected to run full service Wednesday, even to Long Beach, where the station was underwater, along with the Island Park station on the same line.

Service won't be restored on the Montauk Branch east of Speonk and east of Ronkomkoma, the railroad said. As well, various power failures could mean automatic ticketing machines won't work.

Public officials said they continued to deal with fallen trees, park damage and other issues caused by Irene. Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman delivered a telephone message to residents in his Nassau County town promising to get power and services back to normal.

I understand how frustrating It is to be without power, Kaiman said. Power service has been largely restored to Great Neck, where Kaiman resides, including to areas including the main library. Other sections remain dark.