'Relentless' Nor'easter Sparks Massive Cleanup Effort On North Fork: Highway Superintendent

NORTH FORK, NY — A powerful nor'easter that's battered the North Fork over the weekend has sparked a massive cleanup and clearing response, official said.

According to Dan Goodwin, Southold Town highway superintendent: "The storm response continues as this nor’easter has been relentless. We are still clearing and having downed trees and limbs reported continuously. We are monitoring the tide levels as we approach another high tide at midday."

Goodwin sent a heartfelt "thank you and hats' off to everyone in the department. They have been working hard to safely remove the large amount of debris this storm has generated. This is not easy work out on the road making this happen day and night in the worst of conditions."

He also asked residents: "Please have some patience; this long-duration event will take us even longer to clean up from."

The current focus, he said, is to make roads safe and passable.

"With additional heavy overnight rain everything is saturated and we are starting to lose full trees — and not just the limbs we were dealing with earlier in the storm. Please stay clear of, and report, anything in the road — and assume all wires are live. PSEG does have crews in town and is working to restore power where it has been lost, as well as making it safe for clearance of debris entangled with wires."

Goodwin told Patch that the worst of the flooding was in "all of the usual areas" including New Suffolk Avenue, Grathwohl Road, Skunk Lane, and Cedar Beach Road.

The town, he said, created a map, available on the highway department page of the town's website, "to highlight these areas and where they impact our roadways."