Year in Review: Tropical Storm Irene Roughs Up Smithtown

; 

Before the storm hit, Patch was out and about, looking for ways to help locals prepare for the storm. The Town of Smithtown also suggested residents keep a list of important emergency numbers on hand in case of an emergency during Hurricane Irene.

Local gas stations were slammed with customers filling up before Hurricane Irene touched down.

Hurricane Irene forced residents on Long Beach Road in Nissequogue to evacuate. According to the Department of Public Safety, locals on Long Beach Road east of the marina in Nissequogue were told to evacuate their homes the day before the storm.

The emergency room at St. Catherine’s Medical Center saw an increase in traffic during Tropical Storm Irene on Sunday and took on numerous new patients, doing so on back-up power. The patients, however, weren’t admitted for hurricane related injuries.

Much of the traffic came from evacuees from Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip. Among the evacuees who were under the care of St. Catherine’s were 10 babies in the prenatal intensive care unit and 18 adult medical and surgical patients.

As Hurricane Irene was being downgraded to a tropical storm, the impact from the severe weather event has caused numerous power outages across Long Island. 

While all other nine towns in Suffolk County have declared an emergency, the Town of Smithtown said it does not plan to go that far.

For Town of Smithtown residents left in the dark by Hurricane Irene, news of how their local government would help them was hard to find. Town Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said Town of Smithtown workers were on top of the storm as Highway department crews were dispersed across Smithtown to begin assessing the damage and removing fallen trees from roadways at 1 a.m. on the Sunday following the storm.

As the remnants of Hurricane Irene push North, residents in Smithtown are finding trees and wires down on properties and roadways, leaving thousands without power in the area from St. James to Commack.

Hurricane Irene's wrath was felt by the trees throughout St. James as streets were cluttered with uprooted trees, branches, leaves and debris. Power lines were knocked down and had trees dangling from them, trees rested upon local businesses and more.

Jennifer Sloat, editor for Kings Park Patch, caught up with a Town of Smithtown Highway Department employee who was out on the road after the tropical storm, clearing the roads of fallen trees and debris.

Maintenance workers from the New York State Department of Transportation took to Route 25 and Route 25A in St. James and Smithtown overnight following Irene to clean the roadways.

Following the tropical storm, Local Editors from Patch websites throughout Long Island answered questions from locals in a live blog.