Major snow highlights problems

It was pretty at first — white, fluffy snow — but it piled 24 inches deep, according to the National Weather Service, and it will be a while before it is gone.

“Our manpower included everyone for Saturday and Sunday,” said Island Park Mayor Michael McGinty. “All officials worked 24/7, whether on the street or interfacing with PSEG or National Grid. There was some flooding on Suffolk Road, from Warwick Road to Julian Place, and Shelbourne Place to the little beach.”

McGinty said that village officials are measuring the salt and sand usage and adding up the manpower hours to figure out how much the storm cost the village.

Island Park resident Tricia Quinto wasn’t feeling well Saturday night, in the midst of the storm. After shoveling snow, she was having odd sensations in her jaw and chest. A call to the Fire Department brought an ambulance, a fire truck, the fire chief’s car and a Nassau County Police car to her Redfield Road home. “They were here within a minute or two,” Quinto recounted. “They took me to the Long Beach emergency room because I was stable. They were wonderful there.”

There was some flooding on the road around the new facility, however, she said. “Water had come up into the parking lot and into the ambulance bay. They have to find a way to fix the flooding.”

The South Nassau Communities Hospital emergency room staff gave her fluids and sent her home, she said.

But two of the four vehicles that responded to her call had troubles of their own. The fire truck got stuck in the snow on Redfield Road, and the fire chief’s car was mired around the corner, on Waterford Road. It took almost an hour to extricate the two vehicles.

On Sunday, Quinto saw high water at her house as well. “My driveway and sidewalk were flooded,” she said. On Monday she discovered a sinkhole in front of her house, which she thinks was the result of erosion.

Andrew Upbin, also of Island Park, saw flooding by his house and in the Deal Road-Suffolk Road area.

The Town of Hempstead planned to continue snow-removal efforts well beyond the weekend, according to spokesman Michael Deery. “The town used between seven and eight thousand tons of salt, and we have 42,000 tons left,” he said. “Our highway crews were out from 11 p.m. Friday night.”