Blizzard dumped 15-18 inches of snow across Riverhead, less on North Fork

The blizzard dubbed “Jonas” pulled out of the Long Island area late last night, after dumping one to two feet of snow across the region, with locally higher amounts reported in locations in New York City, Nassau and southwestern Suffolk counties.

The East End saw lower snowfall totals than western portions of Suffolk. About 12 inches fell across the North Fork, according to Southold Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando. Riverhead Police estimated 15 inches of snow fell across Riverhead.

“It was a lot of snow, but thankfully Riverhead fared pretty well,” Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said this morning. He said the town will be looking at its coastline for erosion damage, but there have not been reports of homes being lost during the storm.

“Kudos to our highway department crew for the job they did during this snow storm,” Walter said.

The state of emergency in Riverhead is being lifted as of 8 a.m., the supervisor said.

The blizzard’s howling winds — it packed gusts up to 55 mph — created drifts of more than two feet — even more than three feet in some places, Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson said.

Highway crews were out from 4 a.m. yesterday and plowed until about 12:30 this morning, Woodson said. They returned to work at 4 a.m.

All roads have been opened or will be opened up this morning, both highway superintendents said this morning.

Riverhead crews are plowing all roads a second time this morning, while in Southold, highway trucks are out putting down a sand/salt mixture this morning.

“We ask that people please be patient and give us till at least noontime to finish the job,” Woodson said.

The travel ban imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday was lifted as of 7 a.m. this morning. But the local highway officials urge residents to stay home if possible today, especially this morning, so that plow crews can finish their jobs.

Highway crews and police in Riverhead had to pull out about 50 stuck vehicles yesterday, Woodson said.

“They get stuck, then we get stuck trying to get them out. It wastes hours of our time,” Woodson said.

Orlando said people in Southold “pretty much” stayed off the roads as requested. “People were very cooperative and we really appreciate that,” he said.

Travel today will remain treacherous, officials warned.

“We got a lot of snow. The roads are icy and slippery,” Woodson said. “People need to slow down and drive for the conditions of the road.”

Orlando said the same and urged caution especially to the operators of four-wheel-drive vehicles, who he said are sometimes over-confident.

“Remember you may have four-wheel drive, but you don’t have four-wheel stop,” Orlando said.

Peconic Bay Medical Center did not see much in the way of storm-related injuries yesterday, PBMC president and CEO Andrew Mitchell said this morning.

That will likely change today as people get out and shovel and get on the roads, Mitchell said.

The hospital’s emergency operations center, which was opened yesterday and staffed through the night, will probably shut down early this afternoon.

So far there have been three heart-attack deaths reported with this storm, the governor said last night during a telephone press conference. The victims were New York city residents who had been shoveling snow, he said.

PSEG-LI this morning reported about 125 customers without power. The utility had restored power to more than 22,500 customers affected by the storm as of 4:30 p.m. yesterday, according to spokesperson Jeffrey Weir. Crews will work through the day to restore all customers affected, he said. To report downed wires or
power outages, call 1-800-490-0075.

While some churches canceled Sunday services due to the blizzard, one Riverhead church scheduled an extra service. St. John the Evangelist Church in Riverhead will hold a 2 p.m. Mass today to accommodate people who cannot attend the regularly scheduled Sunday Masses, Father Larry Duncklee said this morning.  The regular Masses will take place as scheduled, he said, but people are digging out this morning and might not be able to make it to Mass.