One day after the Long Island Power Authority reached its goal of 99 percent in restorations across the Island, more than 1,000 customers woke up Monday morning still without power.
As of 11:30 a.m., 1,340 customers were still suffering from outages, eight days after Topical Storm Irene knocked out electricity for about half of LIPA’s 1.1 million customers throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties last weekend.
Irene pictures sent by readers
The number of customers affected slowly dwindled during the weekend as crews focused on smaller outage areas throughout the Island.
Crews from neighboring utilities descended on Long Island to aid in cleanup and restoration. Roughly 7,500 workers were scheduled to work through Labor Day weekend.
LIPA released a letter on its website thanking customers for their patience after the storm that left 523,000 ratepayers in the dark, frustrating thousands who had to rely on candles and flashlights to light up their homes.
“We never forget how important electric service is to you,” LIPA said. “That’s why we prepared before the storm and then worked non-stop to get power back on as quickly, and safely, as possible.”
Frustrated customers and local officials sounded off on LIPA’s communication efforts with homeowners, who wanted restoration estimates so they can plan accordingly.
Some lost their cool last week, highlighted by two men who were arrested for threats made toward LIPA.
Nassau County police arrested a Hicksville man who was so frustrated that he was still without power that he allegedly made numerous threats to LIPA. On Saturday, a Central Islip man allegedly called in a bomb threat, prompting police to investigate over 30 facilities on Saturday.
On Friday, LIPA COO Michael Hervey said the company will organize a forum with local officials after restoration is completed to get feedback on how to improve communication.