North Fork faces temperatures in the 30s — without gas or power
North Fork residents still without power from Hurricane Sandy will be facing a weekend of near-freezing temperatures, according to weather reports.
There’s a gas shortage to boot, so generators may soon be quieting down as well.
So staying warm may be a problem for many in the coming days.
Temperates will remain 40 and above into Friday — reaching 57 today — but the National Weather Service is predicting temperatures will drop into the 30s Saturday and Sunday, with a predicted low of 37 degrees on both days.
Kathleen Burke and her husband, Tom, of Laurel said this week that they’re grateful they have a fire place, even though they’ve been without power.
“We haven’t had to use the fireplace yet,” Ms. Burke said, “but things are about to turn.”
According to the LIPA outages map as of about noon, 6,772 customers were without power in Riverhead Town, with another 821 customers out in Flanders and 834 in Riverside/Northampton in Southampton Town.
Another 5,062 customers were being affected with power outages in Southold Town at noon.
Almost 1,060 people were without power in Shelter Island.
Some 278, 000 LIPA customers out of the 619,00 in Suffolk County remain affected by the storm.
LIPA is urging all residents to report assumed downed power lines are live, and to report them (800) 490-0075.
On Thursday morning, both Jonathan and Billy Shipman of Shamrock Tree Company said they couldn’t spare a second to talk as they worked to chop up downed trees in Laurel and Mattituck.
For those with generators, the prolonged gasoline shortage on the North Fork may prove worrisome.
At about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, workers at the BP in Mattituck said they expect to be dry within the hour, Valero in Cutchogue was already out of fuel and Citgo did not answer a call to their station.
Though Valero workers said they expect to receive a new shipment in a few hours, BP in Mattituck said a shipment that was supposed to arrive last night never came.
Staffers at Lighthouse Marina, located at 229 Meeting House Creek Road in Aquebogue, said unlike some marinas east of them, Larry’s Lighthouse did not sustain any damage to the docks during the storm, and that the marina has both regular gasoline and diesel fuel for boats.
The marina is willing to fill up gas cans for generators, if needed.
