Storm knocks out power, wallops LIRR, endangers boaters

A cluster of swift, powerful thunderstorms pummeled parts of Long Island Sunday, leaving tens of thousands without electric power, prompting distress calls from panicked boaters and disrupting service on the Long Island Rail Road.

At 5 a.m. this morning, the MTA's website reported that service had been restored on the Ronkonkoma branch after three Long Island Power Authority poles carrying LIRR signal wires were damaged and suspended service Sunday night.

LIPA chief executive Kevin Law began the day happy with how well the authority was managing in the heat wave. But his mood quickly changed, Law said, when "these massive, wicked thunderstorms came in."

Law said trees and wires were downed in a swath from Port Washington to Babylon. Some 47,000 customers on the Island were left without power. As of 7:30 a.m. Monday, 7,124 were still without electricity. Approximately half of them (3,587) lived in Oyster Bay.

Though the storm brought havoc, the storm also heralded a period of cooler weather.

John Murray, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said a cold front moving through the region helped propel the thunderstorm, which fed on the hot, unstable air of recent days. The storm moved at speeds of 40 to 50 mph, he said, and wind gusts reached 60 mph.

The Coast Guard received nine mayday calls from mariners in distress in the waters of western Long Island Sound and into the East River, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said. Four rescue boats were dispatched, he said, two from Staten Island and two from Kings Point.

Rowe said an advisory was issued around 3:30 p.m., telling mariners to find safe haven. But the storm moved quickly, and several boaters were unable to respond in time. The Coast Guard was searching Sunday night for a 20-year-old man who fell from a sailboat while taking a sailing lesson off New Rochelle.

In Manhasset Bay, Phil Pace of Grand Cayman was aboard a sailboat with friends as the storm and its blinding rain engulfed them. "We were in the boat and looking north at Connecticut," said Pace, 59. "And then there was no Connecticut." Pace said vessels were knocked on their sides, anchors dragged and sails shredded.

Bay Constable Steven Somma, who is responsible for Manhasset Bay, said several vessels in the area capsized, although there were no deaths or injuries there. Somma estimated winds of up to 60 knots, with gusts up to 70 knots.

The storm cut a path southeast across the Island, going offshore through western Suffolk. David Anderson, of Smithtown, was sailing in Great South Bay with his family when a beautiful day turned nightmarish. As the party made for land and tried to beat the approaching storm, Anderson said there were several moments when he feared a capsizing, with children aboard, was imminent.

"It was just a scary situation," said Anderson, 41, a special education teacher. "You knew something bad was going to happen. The storm just moved very, very quickly."

The cold front that helped produce the storm will bring drier, cooler air. Monday and Tuesday, highs are expected to drop to the mid-80s, according to the weather service.

With Bill Bleyer and Zeke Miller