Mayor: Storm Destroys Several Homes, Mascot Dock

Patchogue Village was by no means spared by Hurricane Sandy--up to a dozen homes may have been destroyed and Mascot Dock was torn apart--but Mayor Paul Pontieri says the Village weathered the storm the best it could have hoped for. 

"Compared to what they are going through, we are in pretty good shape," Pontieri said, referring to areas such as Babylon and Lindenhurst, where officials have estimated 70 percent of the homes near the water may have been rendered uninhabitable by Sandy. 

In the Village, there were about 1,700 LIPA customers without power as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, but more than 70 percent of the Village currently has power. That's not so bad considering more than 70 percent of Long Islanders currently have no power. 

The outages that remain are mainly due to trees down on wires that LIPA has yet to clear, Pontieri said. 

South Patchogue certainly took a beating from the storm. "A number of people lost their homes and lost a lot," the mayor said, adding that buffers from parkland, such as Shorefront Park, helped mitigate the water damage to many homes. 

Pontieri gave credit to Patchogue Fire Department Chief Joe Perry for leading rescue efforts of 50-60 people from their homes when Sandy struck. Most people did take evacuation orders of low-lying areas seriously, though, Pontieri said. 

Mascot Dock, which was still on the mend from damages suffered from Tropical Storm Irene last year, was destroyed by the storm and Pontieri said he expects it to be closed until the spring/early summer. 

"That's the biggest piece of damage on public property," he said of Mascot Dock. "Everything has been torn up." 

Pontieri said the Village would look into something "much more permanent, something concrete" when rebuilding the area so it can withstand violent storms. 

"Hopefully we will come up with something that will secure it enough," Pontieri said. 

Pontieri said the focus in the coming days will be on checking on storm drains, picking up branches and making the streets safe for residents and drivers. 

The Village's Department of Public Works will also be open this weekend (8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday) so residents can drop off materials they have cleaned out from their homes for free.