Ice is challenge for Long Islanders after a winter storm flooded streets and toppled trees 

Ice is the next foe for Long Islanders moving to recover from a winter storm that walloped both Nassau and Suffolk counties.

From Far Rockaway, where Gov. Kathy Hochul referred to the land along the bay as a skating pond, to the temporarily shuttered state park at Orient Point, Long Island is assessing how to safely navigate areas around the shorefront as an arctic chill settles in on Christmas Eve.

“There is not one place in the State of New York where the real-feel temperature is above zero degrees,” Hochul said at a media briefing from an American Red Cross warming center in Far Rockaway on Saturday morning.

For many Long Islanders that means turning up the thermostat or throwing an extra log in the fireplace before company arrives, but residents navigating the South Shore could find patches of roadway ice more than two inches thick when they leave their homes.

Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri said that was the case Saturday morning in the area south of Gilbert Street on South Ocean Avenue, where there was concern for both resident safety and holiday business.

Sheet of ice in Patchogue

When the first staff members at Lombardi’s on the Bay in Patchogue arrived for work early Saturday, they encountered a sheet of ice on the streets around the restaurant.

The storm surge Friday sent water from the Great South Bay about four blocks up past the restaurant on South Ocean Avenue.

“It was water last night and turned into ice this morning,” said Karim Sharif, the restaurant manager.

He said the restaurant was preparing for about 500 reservations on Christmas Eve. He said Patchogue Village was handling the cleanup outside and he expected the restaurant to remain open as normal. All streets were open by the afternoon.

On Friday, however, the water remained high enough throughout the day that “no one could get in or out,” Sharif said.

On nearby Smith Street, Jason Alvarez was working to clear a snowy sidewalk shortly after noon Saturday for South Ocean Grill as the restaurant reopened after Friday’s storm closure.

“If anyone wants to traverse the ice, you’re welcome to stay,” he said.

George Gorman, Long Island regional director for New York State Parks, said the icy conditions also were felt on the tip of the North Fork as flooding Friday caused a three-inch thick sheet of ice to coat the long scenic roadway that leads into Orient Beach State Park. It was the only Long Island state park forced to close Saturday.

Dune erosion at state parks

The other concern for state parks was dune erosion and the biggest impact was observed at Robert Moses and Gilgo Beach, with clifflike drop off between three and seven feet detected at various locations. It’s not the kind of damage that would impact summer at those parks, but it will need to be addressed through sand replenishment during winter maintenance, Gorman said.

At Jones Beach, flooding had receded by Saturday morning, but large pools of water had frozen over pockets of sand.

Hochul said she declared a state of emergency statewide, and state and federal officials would be working to secure emergency funding. She said the varied ways the storm impacted the state were a "very clear" sign of climate change.

Although the governor spoke of the storm's impact in Buffalo and other parts of Western New York, where the snow continued Saturday, her presence in Far Rockaway underscored the impact on the South Shore of Long Island into Queens where vulnerable bulkheading was once again exposed.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) called the frustration of Rockaway residents “very real” as they continued to seek infrastructure improvements after suffering repeated storm damage. He said he and fellow federal elected officials had to work to “avoid some of the red tape.”

“The money is there,” Meeks said.

Mostly back to normal

Not every area hit hard by Friday’s storm was reporting doom and gloom Saturday.

Freeport Village Mayor Robert Kennedy said after the fire department responded to 48 calls and dozens of residents lost vehicles after Friday’s flooding, things had mostly returned to normal Saturday.

But Kennedy agreed that Friday’s conditions should remind South Shore officials of the need to seek better protection from storms. For him that meant a renewed call for storm surge barriers, a series of movable gates that stay open under normal conditions to let navigation and flow pass but are closed when storm surges are forecast to exceed a specific water level, across the entire South Shore.

“These work in other areas,” Kennedy said. “We need them here.”

Southampton Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle also breathed a sigh of relief after he watched high tide roll in on Dune Road in Hampton Bays on Saturday morning. One day after the road was breached east of Ponquogue Bridge, McArdle was happy to see it dry with the tide about 15 to 20 feet lower than it was Friday.

“They did a great job,” McArdle said of his crews. “The flooding was really bad Friday.”

East End highway crews also had to work to clear roadways of downed trees, branches and limbs Friday, with both McArdle and Southold Town Highway Superintendent Dan Goodwin reporting several dozen fallen trees in their communities.

Goodwin said his crews put down sand and salt on roads across his town Friday and the most recent high tide also spared the town of additional flooding.

“We should be good for the rest of the weekend,” Goodwin said.

McArdle said Mother Nature assisted in keeping the roadways safe along the South Fork as high winds dried the roads there before the deep freeze set in.

His crews should be able to rest this holiday weekend before heading back out to remove the trees they pushed off to the side of the roads.

“That cleanup will start during the week,” McArdle said.

A priest at a church out east doesn't believe the cold will keep people from attending Christmas Eve or Christmas Day services

Father Constantine Lazarakis, a priest at Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Southampton, said: “I think we’ll have pretty good attendance. The roads are pretty good and we have a very loyal following,”

Lazarakis will go to the home of a senior citizen who won't be at services because of the cold.

“So I’m going to go over there tomorrow and we’ll say some prayers and give them Holy Communion at home,” he said. He also noted that church members could stream the services online.

The National Weather Service has warned not to expect temperatures to climb above freezing until Tuesday.

With Craig Schneider