Hannon, McDonough Discuss Damage Done by Irene

Sen. Kemp Hannon and Assemblyman David McDonough appeared outside the Levittown Public Library and near the Bed, Bath & Beyond in Plainview with a special New York State van Sept. 9. to answer questions and address constituent concerns about Hurricane Irene's effects on Long Island.

Hannon, McDonough and others set up the van in Plainview as it was one of the last towns to get power restored. “Plainview got restored last so I knew I should come here,” said Hannon.

The senator added that he understood the frustration of those who had no power. “We were fortunate we didn’t have scorching hot weather like we did a few weeks ago,” he said.

A concern of Hannon’s and McDonough’s, along with many of their constituents, was not necessarily how long it took LIPA to get the power back on but LIPA’s lack of communication.

“There were no callbacks," said McDonough. "When people called, they left their cell numbers and never received any information back.”

McDonough also said that LIPA’s online map was unreliable and often had no information about who did and did not have power. There will be upcoming hearings to ascertain why LIPA’s communication was so poor and how it can be fixed so there is not this problem again.

Both Hannon and McDonough agreed that backyard poles proved to be a large problem for the cleanup crews. Some homeowners were reluctant to have work done in their backyard for fear of property damage and had to be talked into allowing repairs to be done quickly.

“The problem wasn’t the workers," said McDonough. "The workers worked through the night. In many cases, they worked faster than LIPA said they would.”

McDonough felt that Gov. Cuomo’s response to the disaster was much better than LIPA’s. “The governor’s response was excellent,” he said. “He gave us a hotline to his office and I’d get a callback following up on the issue.”

Hannon stated many homeowners were confused about what insurances will and will not cover. As Irene was a tropical storm when it hit Long Island, it is an ordinary claims procedure. However, many homeowners were told when they bought their homes that flooding insurance was not necessary so none was bought. Governor Cuomo is looking into providing some sort of retroactive insurance for those who affected by the flooding.