Towns and villages scramble to clear tree debris after nor'easter

A weekend nor’easter that sent thrashing winds across Long Island has left homeowners and municipal workers to clean up a mess of splintered trees, downed power lines and scattered debris.

The storm, which lingered over Nassau and Suffolk counties for three days, prompted some towns to waive fees for the disposal of storm-related brush. Others scheduled collection events in the immediate aftermath. Towns so far have collected hundreds of tons of debris and removed thousands of trees that were blocking major roadways, officials said.

"We have a DPW yard, and they've been grinding and hacking and sawing all that stuff up," Brookville Mayor Dan Serota said in an interview. "All the leaves look like everything has been shredded around here — it's absolutely crazy."

While the storm departed early this week, the effort to clean up its remnants continues. Some trees hung precariously against wires and needed to be removed before cleanups could continue.

“We still have utility crews out here working with limbs and trees that were entangled in the wires that we can’t safely work on,” said Dan Goodwin, Southold Town’s highway superintendent. “As they’re clearing those, we’re going back and picking up that debris as well.”

Waiving fees

Southold and Southampton towns have temporarily waived tipping fees at brush drop-off sites.

Brookhaven Town is holding a one-time curbside collection of large tree and brush debris Monday morning, the town announced Wednesday. Debris must be on the curb Sunday to be picked up.

“When you have entire trees come down, it creates a hardship for residents to dispose of it,” said Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro. He added Wednesday that town crews were still removing trees and other debris that landed in roadways.

The Town of Oyster Bay held its homeowner cleanup event on Sunday and has been holding regular yard waste pickup. On Monday and Tuesday alone, the town collected 233 tons of debris, almost double the 125 tons collected over the same two-day span a week earlier. The town estimates it’s collected about 600 tons of waste from the storm, said Marta Kane, a town spokeswoman.

Serota, Brookville's mayor, said heavy winds whipped through his North Shore village and took down large trees.

Many of the trees went down along Route 107, a state-managed road, and Wheatley Road, a county route. Still, Brookville's department of public works was inundated with the task of clearing private roads, he said, and removed eight trees and hundreds of branches scattered throughout the village.

Wind is 'the killer'

High winds damaged canvas covers over salt and sand storage at Riverhead Town's main Highway Department yard, said Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski.

“They’re going to need to get replaced immediately. Winter is around the corner,” said Zaleski, who estimated cleanup could cost more than $50,000. “The wind does the damage in any type of storm, rain, snow. That’s the killer.”

Huntington Town officials estimated the majority of the cleanup would be completed Wednesday, with some residual work expected over the next two weeks.

The town’s refuse department provides collection of small branches and leaves every other week, and Sunday marks the start of the next collection week. Residents are limited to 10 bags of leaves or cut-up small-branch material to be collected. Each bag must weigh 50 pounds or less. All branches must be bundled and tied.

Huntington residents with identification can take yard waste to the Smithtown Landfill, 85 Old Northport Rd. in Kings Park. Residents are encouraged to call the facility first at 631-269-6600 to ensure the landfill is open.

In Glen Cove, branches were strewn across the street, and a few trees came down, including a large pine at Karen Road and Elm Avenue, said Roni Jenkins, a city spokeswoman. The Glen Cove Department of Public Works chipped the trees on-site, filling the city’s tree truck twice, Jenkins said.

PSEG Long Island responded to 1,397 calls for downed trees and 799 jobs for limb removal between Friday and Monday, according to Elizabeth Flagler, a company spokeswoman.

Brookhaven crews had removed more than 300 trees from town roads as of Wednesday morning, Losquadro said.

“There were trees in the street that we pushed off the road and have gone back picking up material,” he said. “It is obviously very widespread. This was a long-duration storm. It’s not like some of these other storms where it was just the North Shore or the northwest part of town. This was every part of town.”

Newsday's Alek Lewis and Deborah S. Morris contributed to this story.