East Norwich residents without power feel forgotten by PSEG Long Island

Residents say many unfulfilled promises made by PSEG

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On Monday, there was still the distinct sooty smell of a fire smoldering in Red Cote Preserve in Oyster Bay Cove. The blaze, right off the private road in front of the Weinberg’s home, began at 6 a.m. on Aug. 7. It started right after PSEG returned power to Northern Boulevard after tropical storm Isaias caused power outages on Aug. 4.

The Oyster Bay Fire Department responded to the fire in the woods, as did the village’s police. Downed live wires had been the culprit, the firefighters said, but multiple calls to PSEG -Long Island from Gina Catapano Weinberg and her husband, Neil Weinberg, had not led to the utility even stopping by to assess the situation. Gina said she is worried there will be another fire, once the area dries out. And she remains without power.

“They cleared 25A but the line was still down in the woods,” Catapano Weinberg explained. “Two years ago, after a storm PSEG turned the power on 25A and the vines on top of the wiring in the woods caught fire.”

Catapano Weinberg said she had called the utility company when the storm first hit, to warn them that there had been small fires in the woods before when power was turned back on 25A after a storm. There are all kinds of downed wires in the woods, she told a representative. “He didn’t seem interested,” she said. “After the fire on Friday a policeman from the Oyster Bay Cove Fire Department said he called PSEG and they didn’t respond to him either.”

Catapano Weinberg has continued to call PSEG. On Sunday she was told that because there are only three homes in her development, they would have to wait for power and for the wires in the woods to be removed. A fire was not a priority, she said she was told. A representative at PSEG’s emergency center told the Herald Guardian that a fire was a priority and that he had a record of several calls by the Weinberg’s. He didn’t know when the issue would be resolved.

On Monday, Catapano Weinberg said she was driving around the area to find a PSEG truck so she could beg them to come to her house next.

Linda and Peter Pizzo, who have lived in East Norwich’s Forest Estate for 22 years, were on their way to the pool on Sunday. It was too hot to stay home with no power.

“I’m at a loss to say why on day six we are still in this situation,” Linda said. “I haven’t been able to speak to anyone live at PSEG. I know the number by heart. With all the technology they have now this should not have happened.”

The development has 150 families, many of whom have young children and senior citizens, like the Pizzos.

Pizzo said she and her husband work remotely from home and have not been able to do so since the power outage. On Monday they were still without power.

Pizzo said she got lucky on Monday morning. She saw six utility trucks on Roosevelt Road in Oyster Bay. She stopped and asked one worker who was from Idaho, if he could help her by going back to her house.

“I wanted to show him my backyard where there is a downed tree on a powerline,” she said. “He agreed to, adding that I wasn’t even on the grid for a repair. How lucky was I that I approached the right person. It took them three hours to do the repairs and I’ve been promised power today.”

She added that the way PSEG Long Island responded to the storm recovery was “disgraceful.”  

Antoinette Hoch, of East Norwich, has two young children, ages 4 and 1. She said that when calling PSEG Long Island, she was “getting the runaround.” She went to her father-in-law’s because he had power.

Hoch got her power back on Sunday night.

“I’ve been living here eight years and every time the wind blows the power goes out or a transformer blows,” she said. “My father still doesn’t have power. He lives in Brookville. He has polio and needs his electric pump machine for his legs. PSEG is giving him a hard time.”

Francesca Maimone, who lives in East Norwich’s Norwich Green, said she and her neighbors always lose power when there is a storm. She, her husband and children, who are 3 and 1, slept in a room downstairs that had air conditioning powered by a generator.

“My neighbor has a 2 month old and has been napping and working in the car for the air conditioning,” Maimone said. “My father keeps buying more ice to cool off his insulin. There is nowhere to buy dry ice anymore.”

State Senator Jim Gaughran said he has been traveling throughout his district. He is trying to make “some noise,” he said, for those who still don’t have power. “PSEG has been telling people on the serious list — the critical care list — that they should move in with a relative or go to the hospital,” he said. “These people should have priority. Communication at PSEG has broken down. At the nursing home I went to people were trapped on the second floor with no air conditioning because the electric lifts weren’t working to move them downstairs.”

He sent a letter to PSEG Long Island asking when the last time was that the utility tested its communication and storm systems. He has not heard back.  

Griffin Rosen, 1st deputy of East Norwich Fire Company No.1, said that there were no house fires during the storm. “There was just wires down and burning all over the place,” he said. “We did probably about 30 alarms and a majority of them were obviously related to downed wires and carbon monoxide emergencies from people's generators.” 

Daniel Eichhorn, the president and COO of PSEG LI, addressed the issues surrounding communication at a virtual press conference on Friday, stating that their communication system had to be rebooted on Aug. 6 and that communication improved afterwards.

“We’re seeing a much better performance today when customers are interacting with us online and connecting with us and calling us as well,” Eichhorn said. “So, we understand the frustration there and I had mentioned several times that is not the experience we want to deliver, but that has not impacted our ability to restore.”

He said that PSEG LI would conduct an investigation as to why the system didn’t work in the first place to make improvements going forward.

Late Monday afternoon Catapano Weinberg said she spoke to a utility crew and they were in the woods accessing the smoldering fire. Then PSEG called her, she said, promising she would have power by 3:30 on Tuesday.

Jennifer Corr contributed to this story.