After the storm: Roads are icy and snow-covered but passable

Local roads are icy and snow covered but passable this morning, as a winter storm that left Riverhead with about 10 inches of accumulated snow pulls out of the area. (See separate story.)

Riverhead Town highway crews worked nearly through the night — taking about three hours’ rest between midnight and 3 a.m., Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson said this morning.

Woodson said all side streets and subdivisions will have been plowed by about 10 a.m. Plow trucks began plowing side streets and subdivisions when crews went back out at 3, he said.

There were whiteout conditions with blowing snow as the heaviest snow fell during the overnight hours, Woodson said.

“We worked to keep the north-south roads and Sound Avenue open,” Woodson said. With winds in the 25 mph range, there has been and continues to be some drifting of the light, fluffy snow that blanketed the area, Woodson said.

A state of emergency declared last night by Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter is suspended as of 8 a.m. today, according to Riverhead Police.

The emergency declaration required residents to move parked cars off the roadway, to make snow clearing operations more effective. Woodson said parked cars, especially on some downtown streets, still hampered plowing last night, though he noted there was some improvement during this storm.

Riverhead’s emergency services were prepared with stand-by crews in house, but had a quiet night.

Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps had two crews stationed at its Osborn Avenue headquarters and one crew stationed with Jamesport Fire Department at the Manor Lane firehouse, RVAC Chief Joseph Oliver said this morning.

“We responded to two alarms out of Osborn overnight, one fall and one active labor,” Oliver said. “The baby was delivered at Peconic Bay [Medical Center],” he added.

Riverhead Fire Department had 25 firefighters on standby at its Roanoke Avenue headquarters, First Assistant Chief Kevin Brooks said this morning.

“We had a nice quiet night,” Brooks said. There were no alarms until early this morning, when a couple of automatic alarms drew the chiefs out for investigation. Local roadways remained passable for the department’s 4WD vehicles and engines, he said. “It never got to the point where we thought we’d need to go with brush trucks in response to an alarm,” Brooks said.

Peconic Bay Medical Center had medical and surgical staff in house and handled a couple of emergency surgeries overnight, PBMC Health president and CEO Andrew Mitchell said this morning. Overall, it was a fairly uneventful night, he said. The hospital rented 26 rooms at Riverhead hotels to keep essential staff nearby, Mitchell said. The hotels provide the rooms at a discount and hospital staff are well-rested and close by, so it works out very well, Mitchell said.

The snow forced many businesses and organizations to close early last night and remain closed or open lat today. (See complete list of closings, cancellations and delays here.)

The timing of the snow meant the storm had major impacts on commuters returning from work — even those who left work early in the afternoon. The extreme cold froze precipitation on road surfaces and accumulating snow on top of icy pavement made for slow going and a white-knuckled commute home.

It took Jim Zaleski two hours and five minutes to get to Aquebogue from North Ocean Avenue in Patchogue via Sunrise Highway — “And I left work at 1:30 p.m.! Lots of SUVs spinning out,” Zaleski wrote on RiverheadLOCAL’s Facebook page, in response to a question posted by RiverheadLOCAL about yesterday’s drive home for local residents.

A little later in the day, Judy Falek had a four-hour drive home from Melville to Aquebogue; she left her office at about 3 p.m. and didn’t get home until 7.

What is typically about a 40 minute drive from Sag Harbor to Hampton Bays took Paula Krzyzewski two hours and 35 minutes. “I’m thankful to be home – warm and safe,” she wrote.

Trisha Pipchinski said it took her husband six hours to get home to Riverhead from Garden City Park. He left at 2 p.m.

Manorville-bound Caesar Soba gave up after it took him three and a half hours to travel from Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn to Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens. After 6 p.m., he wrote, “I’m parked off of Oceania Boulevard in my truck watching TV. Gonna wait till traffic dies down. Trying to get home to Manorville….lol”

Mary Ellen Weaver reported a four-hour trip from Roosevelt to Baiting Hollow. “Not a plow in sight,” she wrote. Her trip on the LIE? “Two lanes from 64 to 68 then one lane from there on.”

Even very local travel took extended periods of time.

“Commerce Drive [in Riverhead] to Reeves Park: 35 minutes at 4 p.m.,” wrote Kerrie Reardon. It took Tanya Zaleski the same amount of time to get home to Flanders from her Commerce Drive office.

Diane Tucci, marketing director at the Suffolk Theater, said it only took her 15 minutes, door to door, to get to her home on Ostrander Avenue yesterday afternoon.

“But that is 13 minutes longer than usual,” she added.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
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