LIers share creature comforts, storm tales

Bagels were toasted on gas grills. Savvy mobile technology users sent out requests for ice, and friends came to their aid. Barbecues became the gathering points for neighbors to come together and trade their stories of surviving the big storm.

Across Long Island, tens of thousands of people without power in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene found ways to deal with the disruptions of their ordinary routines of life.

The keys to coping, some said, were helpful neighbors, flexibility and no small dose of good humor.

Before the sun rose Monday morning, owner Steven Beyer opened Rolf's Center Delicatessen near the Syosset train station at 4:30 a.m., cooking and brewing coffee by lantern and flashlight.

The electric-powered cold cut slicer didn't work. But a gas grill and stove allowed Beyer, two employees and his mother to make egg sandwiches, buttered rolls and bagels. Boiled water poured through the coffee machine helped people get their morning dose of caffeine.

"It does the trick," Beyer said. "The old-fashioned way."

Laura and Larry Chatterton, both 42, lost power at 3 a.m. Sunday in their Sayville home, and the lack of electricity had been hardest on their son Alex, 8.

"He doesn't know what it's like to live without his computer games and TV," Laura Chatterton said. "He keeps asking me, 'Is this what it was like when you were younger, Mom?' "

The past two days have been quiet without constant media and entertainment, save for their cellphones. "Thank God for Facebook," Larry Chatterton said. Using the social media site, the couple not only caught up on news of the storm, but also sent out queries for ice, which were answered within minutes.

The family planned to barbecue with their neighbors Monday night. "We're making the best of it," Laura Chatterton said. "What else can we do?"

There was evidence that some nerves were beginning to fray. At the Southampton 7-Eleven, Gregory Rogan, 43, of Southampton Shores, was among a steady stream of people without power stocking up on ice and a dwindling supply of food Monday.

Rogan said the food in his refrigerator had spoiled, so he was getting convenience store chicken wings for dinner.

"People are frustrated. You try to call LIPA over and over until you run down the battery on your cellphone. Then you have to go find a store that'll let you charge it up," said Rogan, who lost power Saturday night.

Oases of electricity in powerless neighborhoods drew residents by the dozens. At the Levittown Public Library, patrons were lined up, waiting to come in at 9 a.m. to use computers and power up their electronics.

Most of Levittown was still without power Monday and word had spread that the library was open, said library director Celeste Watman. "Throngs of people have been coming in to use our computers," she said.

Normally, people can log on to library computers for as long they want and there is rarely a wait list. Monday, the wait times varied from 20 minutes to one hour to get on a computer and everyone was limited to 60 minutes, Watman said.

One of those people was Luann Pollizzotto of Levittown. "Thank God for it," she said, "except I don't like waiting. But you don't have a choice. Everybody is doing the same thing."

With Jennifer Barrios, Denise M. Bonilla, Emily C. Dooley, Mark Harrington,

Paul LaRocco, Kery Murakami and Nicholas Spangler