Strong, gusty winds this morning are blowing snow, causing drifts that are making some roads difficult or even impossible to navigate in places, Riverhead Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski said this morning.
All roads are open this morning, he said. “However, Reeves, Hulse Landing and some spots on Sound Ave are continuously blowing over. We will be plowing back all day long constantly,” Zaleski said. “Avoid those areas if possible. Town is in great shape otherwise.”
Highway crews were again out all night last night fighting the blowing, drifting snow that at various times overnight rendered Sound Avenue completely impassable and forced police to shut down Hulse Landing Road.
Highway trucks pulled about 25 stuck vehicles out of drifts on local roads last night, Zaleski estimated in a phone interview this morning. Riverhead Police units assisted many other disabled vehicles, he said.
The snow and ice also caused motor vehicle accidents to spike this weekend, Police Chief Ed Frost said. The number of accidents on local roads this weekend was nearly double the number last weekend, he said. Most were minor, he said.
The accidents continued this morning at various places across town.
Town highway workers were out overnight Sunday working to clear roads as snow fell. “We got most roads down to asphalt,” Zaleski said. But Sunday evening and after midnight Monday, the winds picked up and drifting snow and patches of black ice became the big problems.
“All east-west roads had drifting issues,” Zaleski said. Sound Avenue, Reeves Avenue, Hulse Landing Road are always the biggest trouble areas for drifting snow, he said.
Workers put up as much snow fencing as they could between when farmers stop working their fields and the beginning of the townwide loose leaf pick up done by highway workers. Zaleski said they concentrated on known problem areas, but, he said, “snow fencing is not a cure.” If the winds are strong enough, drifts happen anyway, even with snow fence in place.
Both Frost and Zaleski expressed frustration with the number of people out on the roads Sunday evening and overnight last night, apparently failing to heed warnings about road conditions and many operators who fail to slow down.
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“Staying off the roads is the biggest thing,” Frost said. Inexperienced operators are another factor, he said. While driving his police vehicle, the chief said, “I’ve been buzzed past” by other vehicles. “Why is this person doing this? I mean, they’re under the speed limit. But, you know, in these conditions, you have to reduce your speed as well, because the road could have ice on it, or a snow build up, and it just kind of throws you,” Frost said.
Middle Country Road through the Calverton area is “notorious for that,” he said, “because the wind drifts, carrying snow into the roadway, and you hit a patch of that and you’re going a little too fast, and you can easily lose control.”
It was a hectic night for Riverhead’s public safety dispatchers as well, fielding calls from motorists stuck in snow drifts, or who skidded off the road and struck a pole or tree or other object, and central station notifications for alarms set off by strong winds. That’s in addition to the 911 calls they answer unrelated to the weather, from people who need ambulances for medical emergencies. Besides handling incoming calls, they dispatch police units, ambulances and town trucks, among other duties.
Frost and Zaleski both praised and thanked their employees for the job they did under trying circumstances.
Zaleski thanked his staff for their “exhausting dedication to keeping our roads safe and the public for understanding and cooperating in these conditions.”
“I am very proud of our Highway Department and Police Department,” Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard said this morning. “Mother Nature really threw a curveball with this storm. The wind and the drop in temperature after the snowfall made their jobs twice as hard,” he said.
“Our highway crews did a remarkable job clearing the snow. I’m sure they are exhausted trying to deal with the icy conditions. The police have the difficult job of having to respond to all emergencies on roads that are at times undrivable,” Hubbard said.
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