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Great Neck Block Gets Power Back, Only To Lose It Again Hours Later

GREAT NECK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Power had just been restored on the North Shore of Long Island when the nor'easter knocked it out all over again Wednesday night.

As CBS 2's Amy Dardashtian reported, more than 1,000 people in Great Neck had been without power for more than a week as of Tuesday. When the power came back on along Polo Field Lane, people breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was great, watching TV, getting on the computer, you know, things you used to do," Joe Fazzolari said. "I was going to cook today. The heat was on. It felt good."

But that lasted only four hours.

"I had a sense," Fazzolari said. "I go, 'We are going to lose power.' I just had that feeling."

On Wednesday night, they were back in the dark.

"It just gets frustrating. It eats away at you, you know," he said, "and then finally you see the light at the end of the tunnel, the power's back, and now we are starting over again."

The Fazzolari family is luckier than most, as they were able to heat their home. But as temperatures dropped, it was back to sleeping in the cold.

The power tease was fool's heaven, said Muriel Brill, 92, who has been mourning the recent loss of her husband.

"We were married 71 years last Friday, and so this is my anniversary party," she said.

On Wednesday night, Brill was stuck inside, warming her hands by candles, playing cards to pass the time, and repeatedly calling the busy lines at the Long Island Power Authority.

Linda Vasselli had been without power for nine days as of Wednesday. But she had more to contend with than just no power – the nor'easter sent a massive tree crashing into her mother's yard.

"It just sounded like a crash, and honestly, about an hour ago, a transformer must have blew back here somewhere," Vasselli said, "because we heard an explosion and the whole sky lit up."

With trees down and snow mounting, people were worried that they would not be able to get out – stuck in the dark and cold with no end in sight.

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