MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Residents are digging out after the first major winter storm of 2014 dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of Long Island.
Bay Shore in Suffolk County received the most snow in the region with 12.5 inches. Oceanside in Nassau County was hit with 12.4 inches, according to the National Weather Service. North Babylon also got hit with a foot of snow.
“The storm’s behind us now. We’ll continue to clean up the roadways,” Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano told WCBS 880 on Friday afternoon. “These freezing cold temperatures are going to create slick spots on the roads so all our motorists need to exercise caution and slow down as they navigate the roadways.”
In Huntington, some areas were blanketed in knee-deep snow.
WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall reported she found people who were happy to break out the snow shovels.
“We’re actually really excited to dig. We’re new homeowners, this is actually a lot of fun for us,” a woman said.
Another Huntington resident was less enthused about being outside Friday.
Snow in Huntington, LI, Jan. 3, 2014. (credit: Sophia Hall/WCBS 880)
“It’s not the most I’ve ever seen but the temperatures are extremely cold today so I would say the roads have a layer of ice under there. I think that the roads are pretty slippery today,” said the homeowner.
The Long Island Expressway reopened at 8 a.m. Friday after being closed through the night.
The roadway was originally supposed to reopen at 5 a.m. but gusty winds made it difficult for plow drivers to clear the road, so the closure remained in effect for an additional three hours, CBS 2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported.
Although roads are reopen, officials are still advising residents to stay home if they can.
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“My big concern moving forward is people have a false sense of security as the day goes on and the roads are open, thinking that everything’s but you can have ice on these roads because of the extreme cold conditions,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone told 1010 WINS.
The Long Island Rail Road is operating on a weekend schedule. There is no service between Greenport and Ronkonkoma; bus service will be provided between the two points. There’s no service on the West Hempstead branch.
“We’re up, we’re operating. We’ve had lighter than normal ridership this morning, but if people need to get to work, Long Island Rail Road is a good way to go,” spokesman Joe Calderone said. “We’ve had some scattered delays, 5 to 10 minutes here and there, but we’re operating, we’re open for business.”
The storm was the first test for PSEG Long Island, which just took over responsibility for the island’s electric grid on Wednesday.
Officials were concerned the wind would add to the challenge of keeping the power on.
“We’re really worried about the gusts,” said spokesman Paul Rosengren. “When they’re 40-50 mph you have a danger of trees or limbs coming down on the power lines.”
But Mangano told WCBS 880, “All in all for this storm, there really were very few outages.”
Bellone said PSEG Long Island did a “great job.”
“The communication has been excellent and they did a lot of prep work as the storm was approaching,” Bellone told 1010 WINS. “It looks like they’re getting off to a really good start.”
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