News: LI Copes With Being Powerless
(Long Island, N.Y.) Long Islanders everywhere are doing their best to cope with the power outages left over from the damage that occurred during last week’s tropical storm. Many customers of the Long Island Power Authority have been complaining that they don’t know when their power will be restored. The Long Island Power Authority has announced that customers may not always know where or when their workers will begin repairs.
Reports stated that the Long Island Power Authority officials have claimed that they understand that their customers want to know more information about the power restoration process. They claimed to have made over ninety-thousand outgoing calls since Monday in order to inform customers of status updates. They hope to reach every customer by the end of the process.
Long Island Power Authority officials have also claimed that there are an estimated five-thousand damage locations across Long Island. They claim that most of the damages have resulted from falling trees or other types of tree-related incidents. They say that they have received an estimated 686,000 calls since the onset of the storm.
As of Wednesday, an estimated thirty-seven-thousand customers in Brookhaven were still without power. Roughly twenty-six-thousand were powerless in Oyster Bay and twenty-five-thousand in Hempstead. Twenty-thousand were without power in Huntington, eighteen-thousand in Islip, and seventeen-thousand in North Hempstead.
Long Island radio stations have been announcing power updates and broadcasting information to their powerless listeners who have been waiting desperately for repairs. As of Tuesday, many roads were still closed due to down power lines and several police officers were employed to block entrances to damaged areas.
Long Island Power Authority officials have also suspended their walk-in customer services to help focus resources on restoring power, but have urged the public to remember that they remain open for business via the internet. Some of the lines and circuits had to be rebuilt from the source.
In the meantime, many Long Islanders have flocked to Starbucks and other coffee shops to take advantage of the power and Internet access. Many are desperate to charge cell phones, connect to the web, check emails, and pay bills, demonstrating Long Island’s great dependency on power and the net. Some have brought their surge protectors to local coffee shops, which have experienced an enormous increase in customers since last week’s tropical storm.
