LI loses cool as much gets spoiled

Vinny Curto spent Wednesday throwing away most of the food in his refrigerator, but salvaged some beer, which he kept on ice to help pass his evenings without electricity thanks to Tropical Storm Irene.

"I sit in the car and listen to the Yankees game," Curto, of Huntington, said.

Elsewhere in Huntington, some neighbors broke out chain saws, powered by gasoline, of course, to dismantle trees while they waited for work crews to restore their power. They pooled resources and kept refrigerators running with a shared generator. In Yaphank, inmates dispensed hundreds of pounds of free ice to exasperated residents. In Westbury, at least one man found shelter in a car.

For the thousands who still do not have electricity in their homes, life has taken on a different rhythm. Centers were opened for people to shower and eat, but many didn't take advantage.

Across Long Island, shelters and gyms opened their doors yesterdayWednesday and offered showers, food, and other creature comforts to the thousands of people left in the dark and the heat without electricity.

But as the day wore on, only a relative few showed up.

Kim DiGiovanna, a teacher from Ridge, was among the dozen or so who visited a respite center Wednesday at Cathedral Pines County Park in Middle Island, where volunteers prepared about 250 hot meals, 600 cases of bottled water and household cleaning supplies.

Today she is returning to work for the first time.

"That's one of the reasons I am taking a shower today," said DiGiovanna. "Who knows if I'll have power tomorrow." Those without power found other options, from relatives and friends to portable generators and free ice.

A steady stream of drivers pulled up Wednesday outside the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Yaphank to pick up what, lately, has become as valuable as gold. "All the stores say, 'No Ice,' " said Nancy Feustel, of Huntington. "I've been calling every shopping center for ice. I'm desperate for ice."Feustel, who works at an insurance company in Hauppauge, said she was "furious" at the town of the Huntington. She said she called the town to find out where to get ice, but no one had answers.

"For all the money that I pay for that town, I think it's unacceptable," she said.

Suffolk Sheriff Vincent DeMarco, who has had no power at his Cold Spring Harbor home since Sunday, remembered the county jails have ice machines. So he set up two refrigerated trucks for inmates on work release to dispense free ice -- 1,900 pounds by day's end Wednesday. The program continues through Friday.

The New York Sports Club franchises in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, the five Long Island branches of Planet Fitness and YMCAs in Bay Shore, Huntington, Patchogue and East Hampton opened their changing rooms and showers to residents without power.

For those without power, waiting for work crews has been the hardest part.

"Any truck with any kind of logo, we come running out," Pamela Passaretti of Huntington said.

She and her husband had plenty of gasoline; their neighbors, the Baylises, had a generator, so they pooled resources to create a modest power plant that kept several neighborhood refrigerators running.Steve Adams had one of the most creative solutions, turning that commuter saying about living in your car into reality. Adams moved into a rented Chrysler 300 after his apartment in Westbury lost power Saturday night.

"We didn't have the money to go stay at a hotel," he said. "You do what you have to do."

With Emily Dooley, Sophia Chang, Robert Lewis, Sandra Peddie,

and Chau Lam.