A Lynbrook block untouched by Tropical Storm Isaias

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Winds blew throughout Long Island on Tuesday Aug. 4, as Tropical Storm Isaias churned up the east coast and headed northward to many neighborhoods, causing power outages and hundreds of trees were knocked down and destroyed in various communities.

Despite how the storm negatively impacted many long islanders and many community members throughout different parts of the village of Lynbrook, residents on Spencer Avenue in Lynbrook said that the storm did not affect them in negative ways at all.

“It’s like the storm missed our block because I still have my trees and I didn’t lose power,” said Richard Lundy, a resident who lives on Spencer Avenue. “I was scared at first when I heard there was going to be a storm and I was checking my trees over and over again to make sure they were all sturdy, but there was minor damage.”

Lynbrook resident, Cassita Torrens, who also lives on Spencer Avenue, said that when she first heard that there was going to be a storm she wasn’t afraid, however, when she heard the winds outside of her home during the storm, she became frightened.

“I heard loud wind noises,” she said. “I was very nervous it was going to be worse.”

Although Torrens couldn’t go to the grocery store for two days because of power outages in the markets, she said overall the storm didn’t cause any major damage to her home and she didn’t lose power.

“I’m happy it wasn’t worse because with everything else going on with Covid 19, a bad storm is the last thing we need,” she said. “The storm was quick and it was more wind than rain—which is good because there was no flooding for us. I’m just very thankful to God that the storm wasn’t worse than it was.”

Another two Lynbrook residents, on Spencer Avenue who both preferred to remain anonymous, said that when the storm hit, they were very nervous.

One was nervous for her mother, who has dementia and lives alone in Lynbrook and the other was nervous about the possibility of damage to her home from the storm's winds.

“We didn’t lose power, but my mother with dementia did, so we had to rush and pick her up and bring her to my sister in law's house, so she would be in safer conditions,” the first resident said, also adding that at first her mother wasn’t picking up her frantic calls to see if she was okay. “I was very worried for my mother, but, I’m glad we were able to keep her safe and the storm wasn’t that bad for us.”

“I was just grateful there was no damage to my home and our block had less damage then other blocks,” the other resident said, adding that she feels they got lucky. “I also feel we are very fortunate that the block didn’t lose power.”

While Spencer Avenue in Lynbrook didn’t face major destruction from Tropical Storm Isaias, in East Rockaway many blocks faced damages to trees, street lamps, sign poles, telephone poles and sidewalks.

In total, 20 trees fell into the village’s roadways and other trees fell in backyards and on homes. Some trees got tangled with electrical and communication lines. The Village’s parks also lost some branches in both Memorial Park and McNulty Park, with minimal property damage.

“Our Department of Public works were able to assist on clearing roadways without any down power wires and then all trees which were able to be pushed to the side were for removal on Wednesday by our DPW crew,”, Mayor Bruno Romano of East Rockaway said. “We are always there for our residents to assist them within our means. We have an outstanding fire department, rescue squad, Department of Public works and other staff to assist our residents in our community.”

The entire staff of The Department of Public works labored throughout East Rockaway at night on Tuesday, all day Wednesday and Thursday and most of the cleanup was finished by Friday. Branch and small debris clean-up, as well as, street sweeping will continue into next week.