(Updated: 9:24 a.m.) The blizzard dubbed “Jonas” pulled out of the Long Island area late last night, after dumping one to two feet of snow across the region, with locally higher amounts reported in locations in New York City, Nassau and southwestern Suffolk counties.
The East End saw lower snowfall totals than western portions of Suffolk. About 12 inches fell across the North Fork, according to Southold Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando. Riverhead Police estimated 15 inches of snow fell across Riverhead.
“It’s hard to tell with the way the winds were blowing,” Orlando said.
“From our perspective, we got off very lightly with this storm, Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley said this morning. “Our roadways were passable and well plowed throughout the storm and we never got the snow totals that were forecasted.”
There was no major flooding observed or reported in Southold last night, he said, including County Road 48 in the vulnerable area of Hashamomuck Cove.
“I don’t feel that we got the full wind impact from this storm either,” Flatley said. “It blew hard, but not strong enough to cause any major power outages, and therefore there was no need to activate our town shelters. Tides ran high, and there was some minor flooding, but not severe enough to displace any residents,” he said.
Winds of up to 40 mph with gusts over 50 mph churned the surf of the Long Island Sound and sent waves crashing into the shoreline. The winds also caused drifting snow that made keeping roads open sometimes difficult.
Southold Town Supervisor did not issue any emergency declaration for this storm. “Southold fared much better than the towns up west,” he said this morning. “Totals in Southold, as I understand it, we’re about 12 inches — a little more perhaps in Mattituck. We had very little losses of electric and no reported damage from the flooding,” he said.
Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard Jr. gave a similar report this morning. “The roads are all plowed. They are snow-covered but passable. Our road crews were out till late last night
and were out again early this morning,” he said.
“The tides came up but it was not severe. There was no erosion or damage that I’ve heard,” the mayor said. “Like with Sandy, the East End didn’t get it as bad as some places up west.”
A coastal flood advisory remains in effect until 1 p.m. today.
Highway crews were out all night in Southold, the highway chief said. This morning, the trucks are out putting down a sand/salt mixture and should finish up by about 9 a.m. — after 26 hours straight.
The travel ban imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday was lifted as of 7 a.m. this morning. But the local highway officials urge residents to stay home if possible today, especially this morning, so that plow crews can finish their jobs.
Orlando said people in Southold “pretty much” heeded the warnings and stayed off the roads as requested. “People were very cooperative and we really appreciate that,” he said.
Highway crews and police in Riverhead had to pull out about 50 stuck vehicles yesterday, Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson said.
Orlando urged caution especially to the operators of four-wheel-drive vehicles, who he said are sometimes over-confident.
“Remember you may have four-wheel drive, but you don’t have four-wheel stop,” Orlando said.
PSEG-LI this morning reported about 125 customers without power. The utility had restored power to more than 22,500 customers affected by the storm as of 4:30 p.m. yesterday, according to spokesperson Jeffrey Weir. Crews will work through the day to restore all customers affected, he said. To report downed wires or power outages, call 1-800-490-0075.
There was one brief power outage in the Greenport Village system yesterday, the mayor said.
“About 12 homes were without power for about half an hour after a branch hit a wire and popped a fuse,” Hubbard said. “The crews were on standby and got that restored very quickly. The affected customers were on Flint and Fourth streets, he said.
