Strong Winds Leave Damage Behind

Damaging winds Sunday night toppled telephone poles and brought down trees and electrical wires in areas of the East End where some of the strongest gusts were felt. 

It kept first responders on their toes. East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said his department was very busy. Tree limbs blocked roadways, wires fell to the ground, transformers arced, and security alarms went off. The National Weather Service reported winds gusting to the upper 60 miles per hour and low 70s on Plum Island and in the to the high 60s in Montauk around midnight. 

In Montauk, the Fire Department was called back to Star Island Road — where earlier in the day an unrelated car accident led to the driver's death. Three utility poles fell down, with a high-tension wire nearly setting the bathhouse at the Snug Harbor Motel on fire, according to Chief Vinnie Franzone. Firefighters and emergency medical service providers stood by for two hours while the road was shut down. Some poles were still down Monday morning.

As of 1 p.m. on Monday, there were still 1,150 customers without power in the Town of East Hampton and 2,100 in the Town of Southampton. On Long Island, there are 26,000 customers without power, though service had been restored to more than 55,000 customers since the start of the storm. 

The Montauk Fire Department also responded to multiple automatic fire alarms at the Blue Motel, but there was no fire. A caller from Montauk left word at The Star that the wind had blown the roof off a mobile home in the Montauk Shores Condominium complex at Ditch Plain.

The Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton, and Amagansett Fire Departments also had multiple calls relating to wires arcing and downed power lines. The East Hampton and Springs Fire Districts were fairly quiet by comparison. 

Highway Department crews were out all night clearing roads. Stephen Lynch, the East Hampton Town highway superintendent, said on Facebook that leaf-covered roads were slippery, despite the rain having stopped by morning. He reminded people to stay away from downed wires and report downed trees and wires to the Highway Department. 

Overnight, he kept residents up to date on the storm, posting when a large tree fell on Three Mile Harbor Road by Round Swamp in East Hampton and on Gerard Drive in Springs, closing the roads while crews worked to clear them.