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As of 11:15am – CNN and Newsday report that Irene has been downgraded to only a “Tropical Storm”, not a hurricane. Winds are only at 65 miles per hour.
Set of before/during/after Irene photos from Long Island are at our Flickr: here.
Above: Irene knocked down some wires, and popped open this electrical box in North Babylon, Long Island, New York. As Irene passed, you could hear transformers pop. Some wires were down in the development, and some of the buildings lost electricity. Also, some trees and lots of branches down. Photos by I. Wilder.
North Babylon, LI, NY: 11am, after Irene passed
Well, it is 10:58am, and I am safe inside my apartment in North Babylon. Things seem very calm outside. The wind is pretty quiet, and there are more cars moving along Deer Park Avenue (though, a lot less than usual). Newsday reports that about 441,200 LIPA customers are without power (almost 1/3 of its customers.)*
12:30pm update: We never lost power, but other folks in our North Babylon development do not have power, as of 12:30pm. And, there are some downed power lines and downed trees.
My mom in Holbrook lost electricity for about an hour this morning, but hers was back on as of 11:12am.
Around 10am, we heard a few things that sounded like transformers popping –or maybe it was branches or trees falling? Looking outside our windows, we see only small to medium branches that have fallen.
Irene is in New Jersey now. There is a lot of flooding. And, there are warnings in New Jersey about flash flooding and other big problems, even though Irene is much weaker than expected.
Problems may still occur in New York City, because so much electricity and infrastructure is underground.
Think I may go back to bed. Sleeping was a great way to spend 9:45am to 10:45am on Long Island this morning.
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*LIPA updates and info:
From LIPA website:
August 28, 2011 – 10:30AM: Irene is now a tropical storm and is passing through our area. Trees and power lines have been brought down and tens of thousands of customers have lost power. LIPA is prepared with hundreds of workers that we amassed across Long Island before the storm reached us. They will be fully mobilized and will work around the clock until every customer has power restored. We encourage you to report power outages by calling 1-800-490-0075, but please be aware that due to the damage to telephone lines and high call volume, Verizon is experiencing sporadic problems. If you hear a busy signal when calling LIPA please try your call again or visit our Storm Center here. If you see any downed wire, stay away from it and call LIPA or the police immediately.
-Kimberly
Filed under: local, long island, News, Photos Tagged: | Hurricane, Irene, Irene photos, long island, storm
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