Mayor: Northport Cannot Clear Trees on Wires

The Village workers have been out continuously since Sunday October 28th, cutting up and clearing downed trees. The priority is the main roads first and then the secondary roads. Our primary concern in clearing those roads is for the passage of emergency service vehicles. Our road clearing operation is almost 90% complete. Our work crew will continue to work through the weekend.

Our Village workers cannot work on any trees that are touching or tangled in electric lines either in the wires or on the street. Anything dealing with the wires is LIPA’s responsibility. The Village informs LIPA of the location of trees in wires and LIPA decides the priority of dealing with them. We have been sending our workers with the LIPA crew to help expedite the clean up.

When the LIPA tree crews are finished the LIPA linesmen will repair the wires and restore the electricity. It is a very frustrating process. We have been in continuous contact with LIPA and will persist until every home has power.

A major concern is that some generators are not properly connected and they are back-feeding electricity into lines that are supposed to be dead. This is causing a dangerous situation and is prolonging the restoration process.

Supervisor Frank Petrone and the Town of Huntington are trying to arrange for the Laurel Ave School to be opened as a warming center this weekend.

– Northport Mayor George Doll