Acting Brookhaven Supervisor Praises Town, County; Says More from LIPA Is Needed

The Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County have been very cooperative with each other in coping with Hurricane Sandy's aftermath, and the residents largely have been, too. That's according to acting town supervisor Kathy Walsh, who said Wednesday that LIPA is also cooperating "but we need more."

"The team at Brookhaven town is outstanding. Having been through Irene, we have quite a bit of experience," Walsh said. "What we need now is cooperation from LIPA. ... They're doing the best they can, but we need more. Right now it's just that they don't physically have the technicians."

Of the 190,919 LIPA households in Brookhaven, 94,355 remained without power as of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, according to LIPA's Storm Center.

On Tuesday, LIPA said it could take as many as 10 days to get power back to all of the 940,000 customers who were without power as of 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Walsh and other town and local officials surveyed south shore areas on Tuesday, stopping in the villages of Mastic Beach and Patchogue. "It's obviously very wet still," she said. "But they're doing a good job. They're prepared."

Mastic Beach in particular, she said, sustained a lot of water damage in residential areas.

The last of FEMA's $4,296,116 reimbursement from last summer's Hurricane Irene just recently came in to the town, according to Walsh – seemingly just in time for Hurricane Sandy. Because Brookhaven had declared a state of emergency, the town will again be eligible for FEMA reimbursement following Hurricane Sandy.

How much, though, is far from certain, Walsh said.