Long Island begins task of storm clean-up

Workers filled a trash container with soaked carpet, floor boards and office furniture Thursday at Congregation Beth Sholom Chabad in Mineola.

Rabbi Anchelle Perl tried to save what he could, but the water had been a relentless invader at the Willis Avenue temple.

“It came up through the sump pump in the boiler room,” said Perl, a 53-year-old Long Beach resident.

Like many Long Islanders, Thursday was about surveying damage and mounting a cleanup after drenching rain pummeled the island a day earlier.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

At one point during the storm, Perl said he saw the congregation’s Torah, its primary religious document, floating in as much as five feet of water. Housed in an “ark,” the Torah was damaged by the flood, and will be buried in a formal ceremony, he said.

“We found them bobbing in the water,” Perl said.

Perl estimated damage to the temple’s social hall and offices to be $500,000. A price tag can’t be put on some items, like the library, letters and church records.

“I’ve spent 30 years trying to be a builder for the community,” Perl said. “Now I’ve got to tend to myself.”

While normalcy appeared to be returning Thursday, more showers are forecast Friday before the sun returns for the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

In Islip Terrace, where a tornado felled trees and power lines on several blocks Wednesday, the whir of street sweepers clearing up leaves and branches filled the air.

Rocky Rizzo of Roslyn Street, who lost four pine trees, each towering at least 40 feet over his yard, said he awoke Thursday morning thankful that his home and family were spared.

“My daughter was still sleeping in her room and my wife was in the kitchen when it happened,” Rizzo said. “These trees easily could have gone through the roof.”

Even though a Verizon truck was still repairing downed phone lines in a few places, life had more or less returned to normal even in the hardest-hit area.

A jogger with an iPod trotted past a young girl with a makeshift lemonade stand on Roslyn Street.

At Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale, state park officials were counting the number of mature trees that snapped like twigs.

George Gorman, director of operations for the Long Island office of the state Parks Department, said 75 trees were damaged.

“Some trees are 75 to 100 years old,” Gorman said.

Flooding and high winds weren’t the only problems dealt by Wednesday’s storm. Lightning struck a natural gas line going to the clubhouse at the Woodcrest Estates development on Route 347 in Port Jefferson.

“It started a small fire,” said Tom Burke, spokesman Brookhaven town.

Meanwhile, Nassau County health officials reopened 23 beaches that were closed Wednesday over concern about pollution from storm water runoff.

However, 70 beaches in Suffolk County remained under an advisory that recommends against bathing and swimming because of the potential for higher-than-normal levels of bacteria in the water, county health officials said.

The advisory is scheduled to remain in effect through Friday.