Reader Feedback: How Long Were You without Power after Irene?

Hurricane turned Tropical Storm hit fast, but hard, at the end of August, and her effects lasted for days and weeks – especially when it came to power, phone, cable and Internet outages.

Many in and were left in the dark for days – like this Lindenhurst Patch editor – with no apparent sign of , despite the ’s many to the contrary in the week following .

And when the finally did come back, some were still without cable, phone and/or Internet, and had to wait for Cablevision and Verizon to restore service.

Residents and readers of Lindenhurst Patch shared some of their outage stories and gripes about the ’ response time and communication in the days after the storm on Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s what they had to say:

@JesseNissenbaum: “Five days, no phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury.”

Mark Laznovsky: “Was without power for a week. I guess my biggest gripe would be how the left things in a unsafe manner.”

Richard Burke: “A week for a 40-minute fix.”

Theresa O'Leary: “Five and a half days here! My biggest gripe was and is…we pay so much for LIPA! By now we're in the year 2011, NO ONE should have been without lights longer than a day or two! They have had Gloria and other big storms! They should have their [blank] together by now! But if you’re having a hard time paying them, BOY OH BOY they are calling you! Who could we call? NO ONE! WHY? Because we had no power!”

Lindenhurst Patch would like to know your outage story.

How long were you without power, cable and/or phone following the storm? How would you rate the utility response? What was your biggest gripe? And how could response time be improved?

Share in the comments below, or on Facebook and Twitter, or e-mail barbara.loehr@patch.com.