900+ Local Homes Without Power

More than 900 homes in Farmingdale are without power Sunday morning as a result of strong winds from Hurricane Irene.

Long Island Power Authority is reporting 320,322 customers without power as of 8:18 a.m. Sunday due to weather-related causes, with widespread outages reported across Long Island.

Vanessa Baird-Streeter, a spokeswoman for LIPA, said the overall number of outages reported is misleading as the utility company was authorized by County Executive Steve Levy to de-energize 4,615 customers on Fire Island, Gilgo Beach, Captree and Robert Moses areas.

LIPA is assessing the condition of all outages and does not have any restoration times listed. To report an outage please call 800-490-0075 or 631-755-6900.

Here are the locations of the current outages:

• 831 homes are without power in South Farmingdale, in the Viceroy Estates area.
• 54 homes are without power just south of Hempstead Turnpike to the west of Bethpage State Parkway.
• 74 homes are without power just south of Bethpage State Park east of Merritts Road.
• 244 homes are without power along Main Street just north of the Southern State Parkway adjacent to Route 110.
• There are less concentrated outages scattered throughout East Farmingdale and near Farmingdale State College.

To view the outage map, click here.

LIPA’s spokeswoman said restoring power to those affected customers is a two-part process.  A survey team is first sent out to the area of the reported outage to determine the extent of the damage and the action needed. Then, LIPA can send out a restoration team with the necessary tools and give a time estimate.

The utility company has on standby to restore power outages during and after the hurricane.

However, the storm's strong winds can delay restoration efforts and cause prolonged outages. 

“When winds are 50 mph or more, we can’t send workers out in bucket trucks to restore power. We have to wait until winds die down as the winds present unsafe conditions for our workers,” Baird-Streeter said.

Critical care centers – hospitals, nursing homes and emergency shelters - are given top priority when determining where to restore power.

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