COMMUNITY NEWS

Windstorm whacks south Bellmore

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Wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour wreaked havoc in south Bellmore last week, taking down trees and power lines across the area’s peninsulas.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood and severe thunderstorm watch on July 15 for southern Nassau County. But in parts of Bellmore and Wantagh, officials said, a “straight-line wind event” caused damage.

Officials explained that the area did not experience a tornado, as some residents had reported, but rather a downburst, a strong, ground-level wind that blows in a straight line. Officials said that radar images showed that the downburst formed in an area with rain-cooled air that, after reaching ground level, spread in all directions.


The downburst started in a section of Bellmore south of Merrick Road, officials said. Bellmore Fire Department volunteers and Town of Hempstead workers were in the area on July 15 and 16 to fight fires and clean up the neighborhood’s streets.

Town spokeswoman Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky said that a dozen trees fell on local roads, with nine blown down by winds in East Bay Park on Ellen Road. She noted that, as of noon on July 16, town crews had cleared all but two trees.

A number of trees fell onto power lines, causing scattered outages throughout south Bellmore. Alison Frankel and Jason Phillips, board members of the South Bellmore Civic Association, worked to keep residents informed about the outages by email.

In a message sent at 9 p.m. on July 15, the two said that the storm had caused 203 homes across the peninsulas to lose power. PSEG Long Island representatives assured Bellmorites that electricity would be restored by 10:30 that night.

Vincent Scaduto, the Bellmore Fire Department’s public information officer, said that fire officials received reports of scattered outages throughout the evening, and that firefighters responded to calls about downed tree limbs and one fire.

Scaduto added that lightning struck a tree on April Lane, bringing it down onto power lines and causing it to burst into flames. Bellmore firefighters extinguished the blaze before it damaged surrounding homes.

No injuries were reported, and no houses sustained major damage during the storm, Scaduto said.

The department received 13 calls that day. “It was definitely busy,” he said. “It was a lot of rain in a short period of time.”