Many on LI still without power after Sunday storm

Approximately 1,500 customers remained without power Tuesday morning on Long Island after a storm raked the area Sunday and triggered a rare twister in New York City.

The National Weather Service recorded 60 mph winds at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale - the highest in Long Island - mid-Sunday afternoon, said meteorologist Jeff Tongue. The weather service issued a tornado warning for western Suffolk, though no twisters formed.

The Bronx did not fare so well: The National Weather Service officials confirmed Monday a twister touched down just before 3 p.m. and cut a half-mile path across the Riverdale area, breaking windows and damaging trees with winds estimated at 100 mph. Windows blown out at a residence for the elderly caused minor injuries, weather service officials said. The twister, which spun for about 10 minutes, was the first documented in the Bronx since September 1974.

"To have a tornado touch down in the city is extremely unusual," said meteorologist Michael Silva.

In Long Island, the storm brought down trees and power lines and caused a peak of 38,590 power outages on Sunday at 4 p.m., according to the Long Island Power Authority. With crews working overnight on Sunday, the number had dropped to 1,590 by 7 a.m. Tuesday, most in Oyster Bay (583) and North Hempstead (891).

The Coast Guard gave up searching at 2 p.m. Monday for a 20-year-old man who fell off a sailboat Sunday into the Long Island Sound off New Rochelle. He was not found, said Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe. The man was training on a sailboat and not wearing a lifejacket when he went overboard.

LIPA said about 200 workers would also be on duty overnight Monday into Tuesday, concentrating on failures causing clusters of outages. Most homes were expected to be back on line by morning.

"If people see their neighbors' lights are on and theirs aren't, they have a problem and they should call to report it," LIPA spokesman Mark Gross said. LIPA's outage reporting number is 800-490-0075.

Oyster Bay Town spokeswoman Marta Kane said there have been 145 downed trees reported in the town. Collin Nash, spokesman for the Town of North Hempstead, said there were scattered limbs down but only one report of a downed tree.

Fallen trees and power lines near the Pinelawn station of the LIRR Ronkonkoma branch shut the line in both directions on Sunday. Service was restored by 5 a.m. Monday with 10 to 15-minute delays and was on or close to schedule by late morning, according to the LIRR.

Predicted increases in bacteria from storm runoff triggered a swimming ban at 14 beaches on Nassau's North Shore, county officials said. Mary Ellen Laurain, spokeswoman for the county health department, said the closures were a precaution and that no elevated levels had been recorded.