Highway supe: snowfall bearable, but drifts proving a challenge

While the Long Island Expressway remains closed until 8 a.m., Highway Superintendent Vinny Orlando said Friday morning that all roads in town have at least been passed through by early this morning, though high winds are making the snowfall tough to keep up with.

Mr. Orlando estimated that about 8 inches have fallen in town, though the drifts make it hard to put an exact number on it.

“It’s snowing too hard. It’s blowing harder than it’s snowing, so when guys are out plowing, they’re fighting drifts on and off,” he said.

Crews have been out all night, he said, getting a start at 6:30 last night and clearing the roads through this morning.

According to the National Weather Service, six inches of snow had fallen by 4 a.m. at its station in Upton. And power provider PSEG — who took over for the Long Island Power Authority at the start of the new year — reported just a handful of outages (39 to be exact) as of 6:47 a.m.

While NWS had predicted that the East End could be in for close to a foot of snow, Mr. Orlando said the day after taking office that the area may have lucked out.

“Compared to what they said we were going to get, I think we fared OK,” he said. While Riverhead and Southampton both declared emergencies, Southold opted not to, simply alerting residents to “please take precautionary measures.”

However snow isn’t the only thing the NWS is alerting residents of.

According to the NWS, coastal flooding remains a threat as well, particularly on the north shore. A coastal flood advisory is in effect starting at 10 a.m., ending at 2 p.m.