South Bellmore, south Merrick still in the dark

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Nassau County was coordinating the effort to get electrical inspectors into flooded communities. The county hired Empire Electrical Inspectors of New York, the association that represents the four major electrical inspection companies in the area, to conduct door-to-door inspections. On Sunday, Empire Electrical certified 4,000 homes in the Village of Freeport, using 20 inspectors, according to Richard Bivone, who owns Electrical Inspectors Inc. of East Meadow, one of the four companies represented by Empire Electrical.

On Monday, Empire Electrical was set to expand its inspections to coastal communities across Nassau County and was already working in Suffolk County, in the Town of Babylon. On Monday, Empire Electrical met with volunteer firefighters and LIPA officials from across the county, who were working with the association to conduct home safety inspections.

Bivone could not give a timeframe in which inspections would be completed, given the sheer scope of the job. But, he said, it would be sooner rather than later.

“We’re really trying,” he said. “This is a community effort to get this thing done as quickly as possible. If we need to put on 500 inspectors, we will do it.”

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone “have given us every support we need,” Bivone said. “Our marching orders were to get the power back on. They’re sparing no resources.”

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