Blizzard slams East End, dumps two feet of snow across Riverhead and North Fork

Follow RiverheadLOCAL’s live blog for up-to-the-minute storm coverage

A paralyzing blizzard has dumped at least two feet of snow in Riverhead and across much of Suffolk County. The East End is bearing brunt of this storm, as forecasters predicted.

The blizzard warning remains in effect until 6 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. A state of emergency and ban on all travel continues in Riverhead and will stay in place until noon, Supervisor Sean Walter said this morning.

Snow is still falling on the East End — though snowfall rates have declined dramatically from the two- to four-inches-per-hour rates the area experienced overnight and early this morning.

Strong winds will prevail throughout the day, according to the National Weather Service. Blowing snow will continue to be a particular problem, Riverhead officials said this morning.

“Blowing snow covers the roads as soon as you get them plowed,” Highway Superintendent Gio Woodson said early this morning in a phone interview, speaking from the plow truck he was driving on Sound Avenue.

Riverhead officials told residents they should not attempt to travel, even if their roads have been plowed.

“Stay home. Travel is dangerous and should not be attempted,” Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said.

Officials said motorists would only impede snow-clearing operations, because vehicles — even four-wheel drive vehicles — will get stuck.

Main roads across the region are passable, though still snow- and ice-covered, so travel is treacherous.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifted the travel ban on state roads at 8 a.m., but said travel on the highways is “an ugly, dangerous drive.”

All schools are closed, as are government offices, courts and most private offices and businesses, including local banks. County bus service is suspended today and the LIRR will resume service in Suffolk at noon, but will operate on a Sunday schedule. That means there won’t be trains running on the Main Line from Ronkonkoma to Greenport today.

The Riverhead highway superintendent Woodson said his crews are struggling to keep roads open, especially the north-south thoroughfares.

“We’re concentrating first on the main roads, the emergency routes,” Woodson said this morning.

Power outages have not been much of a problem with this storm, despite the velocity of wind gusts.

The biggest outage being reported by PSEG islandwide this morning is in Wading River, where a pole-top transformer exploded on Mereoke Trail just after 6:30 a.m. About 94 customers are without power in that area, which is in the vicinity of Lake Panamoka, near the Brookhaven town line.

First responder standby crews spent the the night in their various headquarters so that volunteers could answer emergency calls.

Wading River volunteers were busy. In addition to the pole fire this morning, they had several rescue calls during the height of the storm.

Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps also made two calls overnight, RVAC Chief Bill Wilkinson said.

“The roads were horrible but Gio [Woodson]really helped us out,” Wilkinson said. “He had both of his big plows lead the way to the calls.”

Riverhead Fire Department had a quiet night, First Assistant Chief Kevin Brooks said.

There were two calls last night — a frozen pipe burst at Summerwind and a carbon monoxide alarm, Brooks said.

“The fire suppression system pipe burst at Joe’s Garage at around 7:40 last night,” Brooks said.

There were no additional calls until daybreak, when the chiefs were called for an automatic alarm at Home Depot on Route 58. It was a false alarm, the chief said.

“Last night was nice and quiet, just the way we like it,” Jamesport Fire Department Chief Sean McCabe said this morning.

The fire chiefs asked residents to clear snow from hydrants near their homes, so that the hydrants can be located and accessed expeditiously in the event of a fire.

“Any help we can get with it is appreciated,” McCabe said. “There’s a fire hydrant every 500 feet, so there are a lot to dig out.”

Brooks echoed that sentiment.

“There are approximately 1,200 fire hydrants in the district,” Brooks said.

“Our average engine carries 750 gallons of water. Depending on the volume of fire upon firefighters’ arrival, finding and being able to utilize the hydrant supply in a timely fashion could be critical to the success of our fire department,” Brooks said.

“Clearing them is a help to both the fire department and the community that we protect,” the chief said.

Top photo caption: Route 58 looking east at Harrison Avenue at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning.  Photo: Peter Blasl

Check the RiverheadLOCAL closings and cancellations page for up-to-date information on local closings.

And keep up with news as it happens and important information about the storm — and join the conversation with your snowed-in neighbors — on the RiverheadLOCAL live blog.