Tropical Storm Isaias wallops East Meadow

All of Long Island began to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Isaias, including East Meadow and Salisbury, on Tuesday afternoon when it slammed into the East Coast with heavy winds of nearly 70 mph and knocked down trees and utility poles in its path. 

According to the PSEG Long Island Outage Map, in East Meadow there were 434 of 14, 315 customers affected by power outages as of Tuesday at 7 p.m. Salisbury sustained a much larger hit from the storm with 2,845 of 3,551 customers affected by power outages, according to PSEG Long Island. Most of the outages are the result of trees falling on power lines. The estimated restoration time is Aug. 6 at 2 p.m.

Members of the East Meadow Fire Department have been responding to calls all day on Tuesday to assist residents affected by the storm.

Between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., the East Meadow Fire Department answered 90 calls throughout the community regarding downed trees, wires, car accidents and one car fire, said Fire Commissioner John Priest. Then, around 7 p.m., the department received another 20 calls in "rapid succession," Preist said. 

"It was a very busy day not jst for the East Meadow Fire Department, but for emergency services through Nassau County as well," he said. The rest of the evening and the past two days have returned to the typical number of calls to the EMFD, whose storm response was overseen by Chief James Walsh. 

On the East Meadow Moms and Dads Facebook page, one woman shared that a number of recent high school graduates on her block had voluntarily began sawing and removing downed tree limbs to clear up the roadways. 

The Long Island Rail Road has suspended service systemwide because of the fallen trees and downed utility poles.

NWS forecasters said Isaias will lash the northeast from Tuesday into Wednesday, with the storm dissipating by Thursday.

For fire and medical emergencies, residents can call the East Meadow Fire Department at (516) 542-0576. 

To report power outages, call PSEG Long Island’s 24-hour electric emergency hotline number - 1-800-490-0075 - or OUT to PSEGLI (773454).