Less snow but warnings remain to stay home today

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County, town, and village officials are continuing to urge people to stay home Tuesday as a messy nor'easter continues to sweep across the North Shore. But instead of the projected 17 to 25 inches of snow, the storm has brought a mix of snow, sleet and rain. But in Glen Cove it’s another story.

The winds are powerful in Glen Cove as in other parts of Long Island but they also have eight inches of snow.

“The roads are very slippery,” said Lisa Travatello, who was given a ride to city hall early Tuesday morning by DPW workers. She oversees public relations for the city. “There is precipitation between the snow layers.”

Sea Cliff Mayor Ed Lieberman said conditions in Sea Cliff are not bad. “There were around three to four inches of snow here but it’s very windy,” he said. “People are staying indoors. The roads are very icy and dangerous.” He added that people shouldn’t go out.

Two years ago, Glen Cove switched the plow blades to steel, replacing the rubber blades. Mayor Reggie Spinello said this has made the work of clearing the streets of snow much easier. “DPW is finishing up their second pass in some areas now,” he said. “If this is the end of the actual snow, we will apply a sand and salt combo later.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged everyone to stay home during televised newscasts on Tuesday.

“The lower volume of snow will help everyone do their jobs,” Cuomo said. “But people need to stay off the roads.”

Icy conditions can be just as dangerous as snow, the governor warned, especially black ice.

“When things are at their worst New Yorkers do their best,” Cuomo said. “Check on a neighbor.”

Glen Cove Lt. Detective John Nagle said Glen Cove has been quiet. “We haven’t had any kind of activity that is out of the ordinary,” he said. “Everyone seems to be staying home.”

When traveling to work on Tuesday morning, Nagle said all the businesses were closed. He hopes they will remain that way.

“The gusts of wind are strong at times and the sleet is coming down sideways,” he said. “When that ice hits you in the face it hurts.”

There has been some minor flooding on Morgan's Island, police report. "But that's common during a storm," Nagle said. "It's only street flooding at this point."

Travatello said the municipal parking lots are full — a sign that people supported the city’s efforts to keep cars off the roads so DPW can plow effectively. “People have done their best in Glen Cove,” she said. “It was challenging for some and we appreciate their efforts.”

Spinello said he is grateful for the community’s cooperation. “Because they moved their cars to the municipal lots DPW was able to get down the narrower roads and it was much easier for them to plow,” he said. “We really do have a talented group of DPW workers.”

The Long Island Rail Road is operating with some scattered delays. Special trains were spraying de-icer on the third rail, which energizes the trains. On its Twitter feed, the LIRR was reporting 15- to 20-minute delays on various branches in the early morning. Check the LIRR website for updates.

Thousands of flights at the region's airports were also delayed.

At press time, PSEG Long Island was reporting scattered outages.

“PSEG Long Island takes storms of this forecasted magnitude seriously, and we proactively prepare and position our restoration workforce so our crews can begin work as soon as the conditions are safe,” said John O’Connell, PSEG-LI's vice president of transmission and distribution. “In addition to scheduling additional PSEG Long Island personnel and contractors to respond to outages, we have arranged for utility crews from other states to aid in restoring customer outages that may result from the storm.”

PSEG-LI offered this advice to homeowners:

* Save PSEG Long Island’s 24-hour Electric Service number: (800) 490-0075.

* Follow PSEG Long Island on Facebook and Twitter for updates before, during and after the storm. Remember, though, that outages cannot be reported through Facebook.

* Downed wires should always be considered live. Do not approach or drive over a downed line and do not touch anything it might be in contact with. If a wire falls on or near your car, stay inside the car, call 911 and do not get out until PSEG Long Island de-energizes the line. If you must get out of the vehicle because it is on fire, jump as far as possible away from the vehicle, with both feet landing on the ground at the same time, and hop or shuffle away.

* Make sure everyone in the family is prepared and knows what to do if there is an emergency. Visit psegliny.com/page.cfm/Home/Safety to learn about safety tips from Sesame Street and YouTube videos.

Spinello said he believes that the city’s efforts have been successful. “Our phones haven’t been ringing off the hooks so people must be happy,” he said.

Glen Cove's schools will be open on Wednesday but after a two hour delay. The North Shore School District's schools will also be open, but with the two hour delay.

More as this story develops.