We finally got our power back earlier this week after being out for more than 7 days. We also lost cell service during that time. We got back our cable (phone/TV/internet) the following day. No damage other than a few fence portions and an outdoor light over our garage. LOTS of trees down on our block and in our neighborhood. Only 2 of about 15 gas stations around town have gas even now ... LI just went to odd/even days and that cut down lines from about 4 hours to less than 1 hour today, which is when I filled up. About 250,000 people on Long Island are STILL without power AND another 50,000-100,000 homes and businesses will probably never get power restored ... they will be declared a total loss. Some school districts have now been closed for 2 full weeks because buses still cannot navigate safe routes. Needless to say, beaches and boardwalks have been destroyed and there is still a curfew in effect for miles of L.I. coastal communities at night due to fear of looting ... in some towns, homes as far as 1/4 mile from the beach are still filled with water. Just a mess. The local power company, LIPA, was totally unprepared to handle such widespread outages and is now saying some people may be without power until Thanksgiving!! LIPA now has lots of out-of-state crews helping them, but it's too little too late. Parts of NYC and NJ are also still in very bad shape and will be for weeks and months. Thanks for thinking of us here on Long Island!
BUT ... WE are lucky and have no complaints. Especially now that we have power back!!