Thousands still without power after thunderstorms roll through Suffolk County

Severe thunderstorms that rolled through Suffolk County on Saturday night left thousands without power Sunday and roads closed to traffic because of downed trees and utility lines.

More than 11,600 customers across Long Island had no electricity just before noon Sunday, according to PSEG Long Island's outage map, with the vast majority in Suffolk. 

Late Sunday, the utility said power had been restored to more than 26,500 customers affected by the storm over the past 24 hours.  At 8:45 p.m., 7,045 customers across Long Island and the Rockaways were without power, according to the outage map.

Powerful gusts

The storm produced wind gusts of more than 80 mph, as well as hail and heavy rain, PSEG Long Island said. Some of the worst-hit areas included Hampton Bays, Port Jefferson Station, Riverhead and Southampton. Crews are working in 16-hour shifts to restore power, the utility said.

"The damage is extensive in many locations," PSEG Long Island said in a 4:45 p.m. update.      " ... tree crews have dealt with more than 330 downed trees and 200 fallen limbs."

Late Sunday afternoon, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said a state of emergency for the county will continue for 30 days,

The declaration authorizes Suffolk "to take all necessary actions to protect life, property, and critical infrastructure, and to provide emergency assistance to residents as response and recovery efforts continue," said a release from Romaine's office.

About 80 PSEG customers on the Shinnecock Indian Nation remained in a blackout Sunday afternoon after losing electricity Saturday night, according to PSEG Long Island. Estimated restoration times ranged from midnight Sunday to 8 p.m. on Monday.

Lauryn Randall, transportation coordinator for the reservation, said some community members who don't have town water were filling up buckets at neighbors' houses since the power outage left them unable to pump from their own wells.

Minor injuries

In Hampton Bays, several people had to be taken to the hospital Saturday night after a tree fell "onto a house and into an area where people were gathered outside," according to Ryan Murphy, Southampton Town's emergency management administrator.

The injuries were not "life threatening that we are aware of," Murphy said in an email to Newsday.

Elsewhere in the town, tree limbs downed by the storm damaged cars and homes, while wires caught on fire in many places. In Flanders, a fire in a home on East Street left a couple and their dog displaced, Murphy said, adding that the highway department, police and fire marshalls were responding to calls and still working to reopen a few blocked roads on Sunday.

"Hampton Bays, Flanders, Shinnecock Hills and Southampton Village seemed to experience even greater impacts than other areas, but all hamlets in the Town were affected by the storm," Murphy said. "We remain hopeful that PSEG will be able to dedicate some additional resources to the area to get repairs done and power restored to customers throughout [Sunday]."

On Sunday afternoon, the Southampton Town Police Department said Noyack Road remained closed from Millstone Road to Deerfield Road due to damage from the storm, while in Hampton Bays, they reported closures on Springville Road south of Neptune Avenue, on Newtown Road, and on Argonne Road East in the area of Lynn Avenue and Oak Drive.

Flood watch

During the storm, trees came down across the Island, including in Hampton Bays, Mattituck Ronkonkoma and Stony Brook, blocking roads and hitting power lines, according to the National Weather Service.

Route 25A was blocked in Northport, and Route 112 was blocked in Coram.

Long Island caught a break Sunday from the heatwave of the past few days, with temperatures expected to top off in the mid 80s.

However, there's a flood watch in effect for Sunday afternoon through Monday night, with showers and in some places thunder and heavy rain in the forecast.

In preparation for potential flooding, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman declared a state of emergency effective at 6 p.m. Sunday and continuing until 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Rain continues Monday and into Tuesday morning. The high Tuesday will be about 80.

By Wednesday, the sun is expected to reappear, and the temperature will be warmer, with a high in the mid-80s.

That's a serious change from the sweltering temperatures in recent days.

On Saturday, the mercury on Long Island fell just shy of the record for Independence Day, according to the weather service, but the 96 degrees recorded at Islip still made for a sweltering afternoon.

That was just short of the hottest Fourth of Julys on record, 97 degrees, in 1966 and 2010, Newsday reported.