Scenes of devastation in Rockville Centre

Hurricane force winds and close to four inches of rain undermined trees throughout the Village of Rockville Centre Saturday creating scenes of devastation as trees toppled, damaging utility poles, power lines, homes and cars.

There were no fatalities and no serious injuries reported.

As of mid afternoon Sunday, Mayor Mary Bossart said officials were estimating that some 800 homes in the incorporated village were still impacted by electric outages. She said that all emergency personnel in the Department of Public Works, highway, sewer and electric crews were working on Sunday. Members of the volunteer Fire Department and village police were handling emergencies as well as all normal calls for assistance. During the height of the storm Saturday night, officials estimated that up to 20 percent of village roads were blocked by fallen trees.

In a phone interview with the Herald Sunday afternoon, Bossart warned that homes with power could briefly lose electricity in rolling blackouts as crews worked to restore power to homes without it.

Bossart said the focus would be to make sure that people are aware of blocked roads and to stay off them to avoid getting trapped. She also asked residents to refrain from making repeat calls to the village about problems -- once a call is received, it’s logged into the system and the problem will be attended to as soon as a crew becomes available. And Bossart said that all parks and playing fields in the village would be closed Sunday because the root system of trees in the village have been undermined by the heavy rains -– a message residents received on Sunday morning and afternoon through the village’s reverse notification system.

Bossart said that residents who need information can call the Recreation Center or visit the village Web site which was being updated throughout the day and early evening Sunday.

7PM UPDATE

Mayor Bossart reported that the number of power outages in the village were reduced by 300 during the day, from 800 to 500 homes. Village crews will work until midnight and then pick up tomorrow morning. She cautioned that it might take longer to restore power to homes that had backyard power lines down because the work is more labor intensive and it's harder to set up a pole. The village will have extra manpower on hand tomorrow -- four trucks with two people each will be coming down to Rockville Centre from near Oneonta, NY in a mutual aid agreement. They will be on hand to help restore power Monday morning.

Bossart said the Fire Department handled 140 calls from 2 p.m. Saturday through Sunday at 6 p.m. The Police Department handled over 200 calls. The rate of calls is tapering off, she said.

Between 400 and 500 trees were felled during the storm. Twenty four telephone poles came down and have to be replaced by Verizon technicians. So far 14 poles have been replaced.

Of the streets that were closed, 95 percent were open as of nightfall. County and town crews were in to help clear.

One half of the Casey building at Molloy College had no power and crews were on hand to help restore it by morning.

Workers from the Dept. of Public Works will be at Village Hall first thing Monday morning to remove the two trees that fell, partially blocking the sidewalk and front entrance.

The building department has said everything downtown is fine.

The village Web site has updated storm alert information.

"We owe a tremendous thank you to all of the village workers and volunteers," said Mayor Bossart. "They did an absolutely tremendous job."

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