Mineola Crews Continuing Cleanup Effort After Sandy

The Village of Mineola has been addressing Hurricane Sandy from pre-storm hurricane planning to post storm recovery.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, October 31, village crews managed to accomplish the following:

• All streets south of LIRR cleared of debris
• All streets from the east village line to the LIRR Oyster Bay line cleared of debris, both north and south of Jericho, except for large trees on homes or across streets.
• Two (2) full village tree crews having been working since Sunday and have continued through today. One crew is staged north of Jericho Turnpike and one crew south of Jericho Turnpike.
• Mineola tree crews have been supplemented by three (3) contractor crews doing the same.
• Two (2) crane crews have been retained and are working to remove large trees from homes, one crew east of Mineola Boulevard and one crew west of Mineola Boulevard.
• Village equipment being used in the clean-up and restoration effort include:
  • 2 bucket trucks
  • 2 front end loaders
  • 6 dump trucks
• Contracted tree crews including:
  
  • 3 excavators
  • 3 front end loaders
  • 6 tractor trailers
• Crane crews including
  
  • two 50-ton cranes
  • 2 man-lifts
  • 2 front end loaders
  • 4 tractor trailers
• Debris removal crews including
  
  • All sanitation trucks and crews
  • 4 small dump trucks
  • 2 pick-up trucks

In addition to hurricane response efforts, the village has been resuming normal operations as conditions allow. This includes garbage collection.

The sanitation department will collect garbage on all routes the entire day today, checking routes twice.

Sanitation will be back to regular routes tomorrow along with any additional debris clearance and garbage collection that may be necessary.

According to a spokesperson from the Town of North Hempstead, town crews are in the area of Mineola clearing debris and to make roads passable. There are over 300 workers throughout the town, including Mineola. The town is asking residents with storm related concerns to call 311.

Many residents are using portable generators during this weather emergency. Please be careful to use generators properly.

Observe the following safety rules:

• Generators may only be used outdoors.
• Do not use generators in basements, garages or confined spaces as the carbon monoxide they produce is deadly.
• When using generators outdoors, make sure exhaust fumes are not near windows or air ducts as deadly carbon monoxide can be carried into your homes unnoticeable until it’s too late.
• Keep rags, clothes, wood or any other flammable materials away from generator during use and until cooled afterwards.  Generator motors throw off intense heat which can ignite nearby combustibles, causing fires.

Vehicles

• A State of Emergency was declared on Friday October 26 in preparation for Hurricane Sandy.
• On Sunday, October 28 all vehicles were ordered to be removed from village streets no later than 8 AM Monday October 29 until further notice.
• Removing vehicles from streets has allowed emergency workers to access homes and residents during the storm and in its aftermath. By continuing the vehicle ban until further notice, crews will be better able to quickly remove downed trees and reopen roadways. In addition, LIPA power restoration crews will be better able to restore power to individual streets in the village.
• Please continue to keep cars off streets until further notice.