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Pregnant Long Island Homeowner Worried, Stressed After Spending Nine Days Without Power

ELMONT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- It's been a week since Tropical Storm Isaias blew through the area, yet thousands of customers on Long Island were still without power Wednesday afternoon.

It was day nine and counting without power for some on Long Island. One Huntington family couldn't bear to face day ten.

"Very stressful, you know, I'm on the verge of tears almost every day," homeowner Rebecca Guiteriez told CBS2's Jennifer McLogan.

Rebecca Guiteriez is due to give birth any day and, per doctor's orders, is on bed rest.

"My wife is nine months pregnant, high-risk pregnancy, and she also has asthma. Now at this point we are worried," said Alin Airinei, Guiteriez's husband.

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One of their children suffered through heat stroke. They said they have been calling, emailing and texting PSEG Long Island multiple times a day asking to be placed on the critical care list.

"We're going to be holding hearings, we're going to be passing legislation, we're going to be calling these folks accountable," said Democratic State Sen. Jim Gaughran.

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The priority list for power seems to be lost in the grid, despite the pandemic and quarantine.

"PSEG told me to go stay at somebody's house that has power," said Guiteriez.

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And there are also mounting health concerns due to a lack of food and the ability to keep it cold.

"It's a desperate situation for so many of our residents," said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. "Their refrigerators are not running."

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A special food drive was organized by Island Harvest not far from a Garden City Park street that remains off limits due to dangling wires.

"I was out here looking and they were saying please don't walk here because it's still live wires," said homeowner Puneet Arova said.

Power was shut off. Utilities are passing the buck.

"They need a crew, apparently, to get all these lines, the cable and the telephone back up on these new poles," said Garden City Park homeowner Bob Zith.

As the power crisis continues, PSEG LI said it is in discussion with the Long Island Power Authority concerning possible rate payer reimbursement.

PSEG Long Island said as of 10 p.m. Wednesday, all 420,000 customers who were affected during the storm period have been restored and an additional 442 storm-related outages are expected to be completed before midnight.

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