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Thunderbolt 12: Heavy downpours and gusty winds create minor flooding and difficult driving conditions

Thunderbolt 12: Heavy downpours, gusty winds create minor flooding and difficult driving conditions

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STORM WATCH: Thunderbolt 12 checking out conditions along Long Island Sound

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News 12 Staff

LIJohn1219_2025-12-19-05-38-20

We're going to also be speaking with Long Island leaders throughout the morning to talk about this storm. And joining us now is Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti. He's been up early, good enough to join us now. John, thanks for being on here with us. Tell us, uh, what's happening, what the town is working on to get ready for this storm. Yeah, good morning, Rach. Good morning, Erin. And so yeah, the town of Hempstead, we are prepared as you indicated we're looking at very heavy rain, possibly up to 2 inches in some spots, as well as high winds up to 40 MPH. And so I have ordered that the town of Hempstead storm response team mobilize at the Roosevelt yard in the town of Hempstead. We've gassed our trucks. We've prepared our equipment. We are making sure that all of our storm drains are clear of any debris, and we're going to be ready to, ready to respond throughout the town of Hempstead if there are any downed trees throughout the night. We'd ask the community to work with us. We have our website up Hempsteadtown.com/storm. Please advise us if you do see a downed tree throughout the roadway, let us know, fill out a form. Get right on it and we'll make sure that, you know, this last week leading up to Christmas, residents can get out there and get their shopping done, right? Like people should not assume that you know about anything that's wrong in their neighborhood, reach out to you. There's a lot of Christmas decorations that are up. People maybe not knowing that they need to watch out for that. That could go on to the house. So a lot to think about for residents when they wake up today. You got it. Make sure when you're out there, please secure all your Christmas lights and decorations so they don't go flying in the wind, break somebody else's window, and we'll work together as a community to make sure that all the roads are safe, all the residents are safe, and everybody can get their Christmas shopping and Hanukkah shopping done for the for the holidays. John Ferretti, the Hempstead town supervisor, John, thanks for the time and I appreciate it as always. Thank you both as always.

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121925AngieCarpenter

Angie, thanks for joining us early this morning. We know things aren't really ramped up right now, but we're looking towards possible flooding and those high winds for later in the day for especially your town. Well, with all the predictions that we've had, it certainly looks like that's what's going to be happening. Uh, we've been monitoring the high tide situation. Certainly that's problematic with all of our low lying areas and the fact that the entire southern border of our town is on the water, be it the bay of the ocean, uh, it is a problem. And the high winds make us really nervous because if it hits high tide time, the tides are high, the winds are blowing, it blows the water up over the bulkhead and really exacerbates those flooding conditions. And obviously we're not necessarily thinking about our beaches right now, Angie, but I'm sure you are, and then potential impacts of that with every storm. Absolutely, it's something we're concerned about all the time. And you know, as much as preparation as you do, sometimes it's just not enough. They cleared out all the drains last night in anticipation, but with the melting snow, the high temperatures, it really is cause for concern. All right, we will continue to watch it. Check back in with us, Angie, if you see any problems in your town pop up, and of course we'll be in touch. Absolutely will. Thanks so much. Thank you so much.

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121925PSEG_2025-12-19-07-07-18

All right, thank you, Rich, and as always with the storm comes the concerns of those power outages. And so joining us now is the director of communications with PSEG Long Island, Katie Tatsel. Katie, thank you for joining us. Uh, it figures to be a busy day for PSEG Long Island. What's the situation right now? Good morning. PSEG Long Island has been monitoring the weather, and we're prepared for this storm. We will see high winds and heavy rains throughout the day into tomorrow that may cause trees and limbs to come down on those power lines, leading to outages. But we do have additional crews available, including tree and line crews to repair any damage that may occur, and we're ready to restore power to customers as quickly and as safely as possible. Now we are just seeing apparently a spike in the outages in the Glen Cove area. When a community has these outages, most likely either a wire down or a tree down, they shouldn't assume that you guys know about it. They should contact you, text PSEGLI. Correct. If you see a wire down, we should consider it live, and you should definitely reach out to us either to our call center or through text or even call 911 if it's crossing a road. And lastly, Katie, uh, we've had so many changes already this month. Freezing temperatures. Today it's warm, rain, wind, snow, a little bit of everything. How much stress does that put on the system? You know we're prepared for extreme weather all year round. Our crews are ready to be out there in any type of weather and get that power on as quickly and as safely as possible. All right, Katie, thanks so much with PSEG Long Island. I'm sure a busy day for you. Check back if there's any problems, and we'll do the same. Thank you. Have a great day. You too.

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The wind and rain is creating slick conditions across Long Island.

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