Local updates: Sandy impact on LI, Nov. 4

UPDATED: 9 P.M.

Hobart Elementary students to be split

With the school still without full power, students of John S. Hobart Elementary School will be split between two neighboring schools tomorrow, according to a statement the William Floyd School District posted on its website.

Here is the full statement:

John S. Hobart Elementary School has not had full power restored after the Hurricane Sandy. As a result, we will be following a contingency plan tomorrow for Hobart students.

All Hobart students will be transported to Hobart Elementary School at the usual arrival time.

Students will report to their classrooms and have attendance taken by their teachers.

Students will then be escorted by their teachers to a different elementary school: Students in grades kindergarten through second will be walked to Floyd Elementary School; Students in grades 3 through 5 will be walked over to Woodhull Elementary School.

Before the end of the school day, students will be walked back to Hobart to take their regular buses home at their usual time.

If LIPA does restore power to Hobart before student arrival, we will keep our Hobart students at Hobart and contact you via phone and our website.

This is not a perfect plan but we feel that it will work and get our students back with their classmates and teachers as we all try to resume our lives after Hurricane Sandy.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. 

UPDATED 6:42 P.M.

Downtown Port Jeff slowly coming back to life

With many businesses regaining power over the past several days, downtown Port Jefferson is slowly gaining a sense of normalcy after Sandy.

“I assure you we are open,” read the sign Sunday at Salsa Salsa on Main Street.

Inside, staff member Kevin Coleman, 28, of Port Jefferson, said things are “almost back to normal.”

“Friday felt weird with the power just coming back on. There were not a lot of people walking around.”

Now the familiar sounds of a football game on TV and glasses clinking can be heard at Billie’s 1890 Saloon, and the farmers market was open selling fresh goods.

Starbucks regained power on Wednesday and reopened on Friday.

“Friday was busy, we had a lot of customers coming in,” said employee Nikki Kostoff, 20, of Selden. “Today has been a little slow, but we still have people.”

Restaurants along the harbor have resumed business as well, though it’s still slow, said Abdul Zolil, 28, the manager at The Steam Room clam bar, which was closed only a day, reopening on Thursday.

“It’s been pretty much the same everyday,” Zolil said. “Businesses just got power on and are trying to get back to normal.”

--Andrew Kozak 

UPDATED: 4:45 P.M.

A volunteer sign-up system 

People interested in volunteering to help with muckouts, food sorting and distribution, and other tasks can sign up through the Long Island Volunteer Center.

Diana O'Neill, executive director of the center, said hundreds of Long Islanders so far have signed up, and the greatest need is for licensed medical personnel as well as those willing to do debris removal and help with food.

She added that some volunteers would be employed in the weeks to come.

"This is going to be a long-term recovery effort," she said. "So in essence we're banking these volunteers. But in a way it will become a very important resource to health and human-service agencies."

O'Neill said would-be volunteers should register at longislandvolunteercenter.org.

—  Jennifer Barrios

Pictured above: A long line of drivers awaits a turn at a gasoline pump in Huntington Station. (Nov. 4, 2012)

UPDATED: 4:51 P.M.

6 hours too much for one in line

Six hours is the limit for Phil Solmosy, 46, of Farmingville, whose Jeep Liberty is at the front of the line of cars waiting for gasoline at the Hess station near his home.

The station, at the corner of North Ocean Avenue and the south service road of the Long Island Expressway, ran out of gas around 8:30 this morning, when Solmosy was just a handful of cars away from the front of the line.

He said station employees told him they expected another shipment around 12:30, so he showed up at noon and formed a line along the service road that now includes about 50 others.

At 2:45, the pumps were still dry and cordoned off.

At least four drivers in the line were sleeping with their engines turned off, and one car was empty.

Solmosy and his companions at the front of the line — a co-worker he brought with him and the driver of the car behind him, whom he'd just met — said people had been walking to the nearby fast-food restaurants for sustenance.

Christian Fegalia, 35, "lucky number two" in line, said he would stay there as long as his bladder and hunger pains would allow.

On Friday, Fegalia, of Farmingville, ran out of gas twice on his way home from his job with a catering consultant business in Moonachie, N.J. -- 130 miles away.

"In Nassau County I ran out and I gave a guy with a container in his car 40 bucks for it," he said of trying to get home. "That got me to Ronkonkoma, and I called my dad and he helped me get back here."

Toward the end of the line, the Kirby family, of Coram, had been waiting for about 20 minutes. Husband and wife, Brendan and Jennifer, have to be at work in Melville and Miller Place, respectively, tomorrow.

"Compared to what I saw yesterday, this is not bad," Brendan Kirby said.

They said they would stay for two hours and they had a bag of bagels in the back for their two young children.

Solmosy, who works for a dental company in Woodbury, said he was preparing for a worst-case scenario.

"I get in touch with my boss," he said. "I'm not coming in."

— Erin Geismar

UPDATED: 3:43 p.m.

UPDATED: 3:14 p.m.

Sandy keeping salons booked

Missy Agostino said she hasn't had a break all day.

The hair stylist has been busy with clients Sunday — some old, some new.

With power to many homes still out following superstorm Sandy, "a lot of people want to charge their phones and get washed," she said.

At Salon Nouveau, in the Morton Village Plaza in Plainview, the salon is "triple booked," said manager Alexandra Torlone. The crowd is unusual for a Sunday.

"Nonstop all day," she said. It plans to stay open, Monday, too, a day reserved for the stylists to be trained.

"They have no power," Torlone said. "I'm not going to send anyone away."

So they come seeking blowouts, a place to charge their phones — and "their husband's stuff," too, like their electric razors.

The salon, open since February, replaced the former L.A. Hair Color, a fixture in the community for a quarter-century, Torlone said.

This week, she said, the salon has seen a rush of new clients.

"It's good for us," Agostino, the stylist, said.

Jessica Becker, a hairdresser's assistant at the salon, lives in Old Bethpage, where she said the storm has taken its toll on her elderly neighbors. A man in his 90s died yesterday, she said. And earlier in the week, she said, a man with dementia was sent to the hospital.

So she and her mother, a nurse at Plainview Hospital, have opened up their grill to barbecue meals for their neighbors.

Becker, 18, said the grill is fueled by propane tanks. Her mother has cooked barbecue chicken and prepared hot soup, which they then hand deliver to their neighbors on Farragut Road.

"We've been doing it since the power went out," Becker said.

And with another storm threatening Wednesday, tensions are running high. She said she might flee to Tennessee, where a friend lives.

"I'm scared," she says. "I'm just hoping with the next storm coming, we're not going to lose anything else." 

— Scott Eidler

UPDATED 2:40 p.m.

Gas line snakes around Huntington Station 

In Huntington Station, as in many communities on Long Island, long gas lines snaked into residential neighborhoods, snarling traffic and blocking some people from their homes.

West of Route 110, a line twisted about eight blocks through a dense residential area, where it continued from a gas station by the highway through rows of single-family homes, past a South Huntington School District administration building, and past more homes.

Drivers in the middle of the line said they had been waiting about 90 minutes. One driver said he spent the night sleeping in his car outside a different station, only to find it was out of gas when he awoke the next morning.

One resident of the area grew frustrated with his attempts to drive through the gas lines and get into his driveway, so he left his car parked in the middle of Weston Street.

"He would've gotten in if he waited a little longer," said a driver in the queue.

At the front of the line, a block-long line of residents with gas canisters also waited for pumps.

A Suffolk police cruiser was parked in front of the gas station. The officer said the crowd was orderly but testy. "As long as I'm here, it should be OK," he said.

— Patrick Whittle

UPDATED 2:10 p.m.

More than a dozen Long Island school districts will remain closed Monday, and some through Tuesday, regional officials announced Sunday. Full story. School closings.

UPDATED 1:45 p.m.

Election Day video chat

Newsday.com will be conducting a live video chat on Election Day at noon with political columnist Dan Janison to discuss the election, the campaigns and how the results will affect us in the years to come. Sign up here.
 

UPDATED: Noon

Free food in Huntington Station until 1 p.m.

Island Harvest will give out free food and drink Sunday between noon and 1 p.m. in Huntington Station.

The nonprofit’s mobile food and distribution van will be parked at the corner of Fairground Avenue and East Sixth Street, according to a news release from Suffolk County Legis. William Spencer and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.

All are welcome. For more information, call 631-854-4500.

UPDATED: 10:51 a.m.

FEMA assistance in Mastic

Sunday is the last day for direct assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the Mastic Recreation Center, 15 Herkimer St., before the FEMA mobile unit and personnel move to H. Lee Dennison building in Hauppauge.

UPDATED: 9:50 a.m.

No-go for car show

The Belmont Classic Car Show and Swap Meet that was set for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Belmont Racetrack in Elmont has been rescheduled for next Sunday as a result of the gas shortage. Visit longislandcars.com for more information.

UPDATED: 9:28 a.m.

Donations are being accepted at a variety of locations for victims of Sandy. Find out more.