Windblown snow may trouble roads Monday

Commuters beware: Windblown snow could make Monday's commute even worse than you thought.

"It's going to be quite a challenge for our workers to clear these roads and keep them clear because of the wind," Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said during a visit to the county emergency operations center in Yaphank in midafternoon Sunday.

He said Suffolk had 375 pieces of equipment out clearing its 1,200 lane-miles of highway and expected to be using about 6,000 tons of salt.

"The biggest concern is the heavy winds, from 35 to 50 miles an hour, that will be pushing the snow that has been plowed back onto the roads," Levy said. "So it's going to be a miserable morning commute. By afternoon, everything should be back to normal and people will be able to shop for what they need, so there's no need for people to drive in the middle of the storm."

Levy said volunteers would be calling the elderly and sick to make sure they were not in danger during the storm. He added that "our police department has been instructed that if they see any homeless individuals to go up to them in order to bring them to a shelter."

Levy also said that through the Red Cross an emergency shelter will open at about 3 a.m. Monday at the Sachem School District's Seneca Middle School, 850 Main St., Holbrook.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said that by 4 p.m., when the county opened its emergency management center in Bethpage, public works employees had salted and sanded 2,000 miles of road lanes before beginning to plow. "The wind and visibility issues really complicate our job with respect to clearing roadways," he said.

Mangano established a hotline for residents to report nonemergency storm problems: 888-684-4274. He said the hotline should be used to report problems like downed trees or plowing issues.

Emergencies should still be reported to 911.

Any Nassau resident in need of shelter should call the 866-WARM-BED county hotline. Mangano said if there were large-scale power outages, the county would open some of its 100 shelters in conjunction with the Red Cross.

LIPA last night reported about 1,200 outages across Long Island. Anyone who sees downed power lines should stay away from them and inform LIPA by calling 800-490-0075, spokesman Mark Gross said.

With Mark Harrington