Cooling centers open in towns Islandwide

Towns across Long Island announced special measures to help residents deal with the ongoing heat wave.

“Excessive temperatures and oppressive humidity levels are a dangerous, and potentially deadly, combination,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray said Monday.

Here are some of those measures:

BROOKHAVEN: Brookhaven Town has opened cooling stations and extended the hours of several pools and beaches through Friday.

Cooling centers at the Henrietta Acampora Recreation Center in Blue Point, New Village Recreation Center in Centereach, Rose Caracappa Senior Center in Mount Sinai and Mastic Recreation Center in Mastic will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. town officials said.

The Centereach and Holtsville pools will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., officials said.

Town beaches at Cedar Beach in Mt. Sinai, West Meadow Beach in Stony Brook, Corey Beach in Blue Point and Davis Beach on Fire Island will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

SEE PHOTOSGreat places to get ice cream on LI

Great Gunn Beach on Fire Island will be open Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, call 451-TOWN or visit http://www.brookhaven.org/.

GLEN COVE: The Glen Cove senior citizen at 130 Glen St. will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. all week as a cooling center; the facility usually closes at 5 p.m. Transportation is available by calling 516-759-9615.

HEMPSTEAD: Hempstead announced that 15 cooling centers have been opened and hours have been extended at nine pools and eight beaches. The extensions will last through Friday, officials said.

Cooling centers are open from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.:
*Baldwin Senior Center, 1810 N. Grand Ave., 516-546-7110
*Bellmore Senior Center, 2000 Bellmore Ave., 516-221-9696
*Cedarhurst Senior Center, 200 Cedarhurst Ave., 516-295-1177
(open until 4:30 p.m.)
*East Meadow Senior Center, 1485 Front St., 516-794-2458
*Elmont Senior Center, 138 Elmont Rd., 516-354-4777
*Franklin Square Senior Center, 1182 Martha Place, 516-328-3010
*Green Acres Senior Center, 400 Flower Rd., Valley Stream, 516-872-8810
*Levittown Senior Center, 555 N. Newbridge Rd., 516-433-5454
*Merrick Senior Center, 2550 Clubhouse Rd., 516-868-4777
*Oceanside Senior Center, 2900 Rockaway Ave., 516-766-8888
*Rosa Parks Senior Center, 2 Babylon Tpke., Roosevelt, 516-867-1612
*Salisbury Senior Center, 460 Salisbury Park Dr., Westbury, 516-333-5440
*Uniondale-Hempstead Senior Center, 840 Uniondale Ave., Uniondale, 516-292-1313
*Uniondale-Merrick Senior Center, 750 Jerusalem Ave., Uniondale, 516-538-5050
*Wantagh Senior Center, 1150 Seamans Neck Rd., 516-785-8505

Hours will be extended at several following pools. Roosevelt Pool and Town Park at the Sands Pool will close at 7 p.m. Closing time will be 8 p.m. at the Forest City Park Pool, Rath Pool (Franklin Sq. Park District), Walker Memorial Pool, Azaela Road Pool, Hewlett Pool, Blue Grass Lane Pool and Slate Lane Pool.

Lifeguards will be on duty for an extra hour, to 7 p.m., at the following beaches: Town Park Point Lookout, Lido Beach Town Park, Lido West Town Park, Town Park at Sands, Hewlett Point Park, East Atlantic Beach, Atlantic Beach Estates and Point Lookout Civic Beach.

HUNTINGTON: The Town of Huntington has extended the hours lifeguards will be on duty at three of its beaches. Lifeguards at Crab Meadow, Centerport and West Neck beaches will be on duty all week until 7:30 p.m.

NORTH HEMPSTEAD: The town opened four cooling centers on Monday: the Yes We Can Community Center in Westbury and Clinton G. Martin Park in New Hyde Park, both of which will be open through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; the Port Washington Public Library, which will be open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and tomorrow Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and the Roslyn Community Center, which will be open Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., tomorrow Wednesday from noon to 5 p.m., and Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Air conditioning and cold water will be provided by the town.

RIVERHEAD: Riverhead Town will keep its beaches open an extra two hours this week because of the heat, according to parks and recreation superintendent Ray Coyne. The beaches, which normally close at 5 p.m., will remain open until 7 p.m. through Friday. No decision has yet been made on what to do after that. Riverhead Town will open its senior center at 60 Shade Tree Lane, Aquebogue, as a cooling center from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Friday.

SHELTER ISLAND: Shelter Island will open its senior center on Route 114 as a cooling center, starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Officials plan to close the center at 5 p.m., but say they could leave it open longer depending on heat problems that develop.

SOUTHAMPTON TOWN: The town has opened its three community centers from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. as cooling centers. They are located at 655 Flanders Rd. in Flanders, 585 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Tpke. in Bridgehampton, and 25 Ponquogue Ave. in Hampton Bays.

SOUTHOLD: Starting Tuesday, Southold’s Human Resources and Senior Center at 750 Pacific St. in Mattituck will be open as a cooling center from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition, the libraries in Mattituck-Laurel, Cutchogue-New Suffolk, Southold and Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport will be open, most of them until 8 p.m. People seeking more information can call their local library or Town Supervisor Scott Russell at 631-765-1889.

SMITHTOWN: The town’s public safety department plans to talk with officials at the Smithtown Senior Citizens Center and Smithtown Town board this Tuesday morning to discuss whether and when a cooling station needs to be opened later in the week, said John Valentine, Smithtown director of Public Safety. Valentine said the town did not have a cooling station set up Monday.

“According to the forecast, the worst yet to come,” Valentine said.

The Smithtown Senior Citizens Center typically is the location that is opened as a shelter or a cooling station in extreme temperatures, Valentine said.

“I think everybody has to use a little common sense with something like this,” Valentine said of the heat wave. “We’ve gone through these before.”

Valentine said the department is advising residents to “conserve energy and keep yourself well-hydrated and make sure if you can avoid any type of exertion in this weather.”

— JENNIFER BARRIOS, BILL BLEYER, MITCHELL FREEDMAN, DEON J. HAMPTON, LAUREN R. HARRISON, DEBORAH S. MORRIS, PATRICK WHITTLE