LIers cheer, jeer as power returns -- or doesn't

Peter Hsu of Muttontown speaks of that first surge of power through his home in tones approaching euphoria: "It was a wonderful feeling."

By contrast, Leslie Weinberg of Great Neck, without power for five days in a home blocked by a wire-entangled tree, said she feels "like a prisoner."

Across Long Island Thursday it was the best of times or the worst, depending on whether LIPA trucks appeared and restored the juice. The Long Island Power Authority said its crews had returned all but 89,000 of its 1.12 million customers to power as of Thursday morning.

LIPA said it was on target to restore around 90 percent of the more than 500,000 customers affected by Tropical Storm Irene by Friday night.

At day's end yesterday, LIPA had cut the number of remaining outages by 10,000 for the day. "Progress is starting to slow," LIPA chief Michael Hervey said, as crews fan out into neighborhoods.

Still, Hervey said LIPA had made progress enough in Montauk, Massapequa and Melville areas that it closed substation operating centers there and moved crews to other areas. He said large parts of Merrick, Wantagh, Southampton and Smithtown were restored yesterday.

For those who were back on, the relief was audible.

"Our power returned early this morning," said a beaming Lori Burke of St. James, who had power for a day after the storm, then lost it all week. She is on LIPA's critical care list because of two small children with a rare breathing disorder, who require ventilators and air conditioning. "The kids are doing well," she said.

At the other extreme, Nassau County police Thursday arrested Walter Murphy of Hicksville after they said he called Nassau's emergency management department and made threats against LIPA. "The defendant was irate due to his home having no electricity," police said in a statement, and he was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment. Murphy could not be reached.

Hervey said despite "two or three incidents," including the arrest, most residents were cordial with crews.

For others with critical care needs as urgent as Burke's, the wait continued.

Dawn Walsh's son, Christopher Terezakis, 9, suffers from an oxygen-limiting brain condition that renders him dependent on an oxygen concentrator, a suction machine, a nebulizer and a heart monitor.

Walsh, 45, of Dix Hills, has not had power since Sunday, and is powering the home with a generator. She said she's called LIPA numerous times before a crew arrived last night to work on the outage. "I'm angry and I'm mostly worried," said Walsh. "I could understand a day, an hour, but four days? "

Meanwhile, as crews are working to restore most of the Island's power before the start of the Labor Day weekend, when some of the workers that LIPA brought in from outside the area will have to vacate hotel rooms reserved by vacationers. John Bruckner, president of National Grid's Long Island electric group, said hundreds of repair workers will be moved to shelters over the next day. The Red Cross is providing cots, and National Grid donated $1 million to the Red Cross.

Another 500 repair workers are due on Long Island from elsewhere in the Northeast Friday, and more could arrive over the weekend. With 6,500 workers already, including 2,500 from out of state, it's the largest restoration force LIPA has ever amassed.

Additional restoration crews are not just coming from out of state. The Long Island Rail Road on Thursday lent 21 of its workers, and eight utility line bucket trucks, to LIPA. LIPA will reimburse the LIRR for the workers' wages, LIRR president Helena Williams said.

With Alfonso Castillo, Tania Lopez and John Valenti