Pontieri Answers on Village Security, Shelters, Storm Basins

As posted Sunday, Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri is taking storm questions via Patch. Here are several of his answers to both reader and Patch questions.

Lynette Murphy: Last year during Irene, we evacuated as requested. There was no means to find out when we were permitted to return. When we did return there were many people who obviously didn't belong here driving around and moving road barriers to do so. I also heard about a few attempted burglaries in the Gilbert Street area. Will there be any security measures taken so that property is protected if people leave?

Pontieri: The difficulty we have is putting men on the street at the height of the storm. Suffolk PD, we follow their protocol, and (the storm) is at the point they pull people off. For health and safety issues we have to pull our people off the street. It's going to be difficult, we will be the best we can do. At the point the winds and the storm begin to decrease we'll have public safety back on the street with the goal to secure the south end and a need to keep unwanted visitors out.

Christie: Why do the South Patchogue residents have to be bused to Sachem during a storm evacuation when you have the Pat-Med school district?

Pontieri: The shelters are determined by Suffolk County's emergency operations. It is not a decision made by either the school district or the village. It is Suffolk County Emergency Service and Operations. They do that in conjunction with the Red Cross.

Dennis Barone: The storm drain the village installed on Roosevelt Ave to drain the water is backflowing and filling the street. Why?

Pontieri: This past week we used a vac-all truck, we cleaned all the storm basins at the south end. Many of those storm basins are connected directly and flow into the river or the bay. As the tide comes up it pushes back into the storm drains and back onto the streets.

Patch: Is there a potential for roads to be blocked tonight?

Pontieri: Not blocking off any roads this evening. We'll take a look down south and make those determinations based on where the water is. Could be as early as midnight tonight.

Patch: Any other advice for residents as we go into the storm?

Pontieri: Secure your homes, be careful about fallen wires. Understand response to emergencies are limited, we'll be not as quickly as normal given the conditions. Nothing is going to be easy over the next 48 hours.

Have your own questions you would like to ask Mayor Pontieri? Post them in the comments below, to our previous post, emailed to michael@patch.com, added to the Patchogue Patch Facebook Page or sent via @PatchoguePatch on Twitter.