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Thunderstorm downs trees, causes outages in Riverhead, Flanders

Tree limbs hang on a house on Wilson Avenue in Riverhead. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)
Tree limbs hang on a house on Wilson Avenue in Riverhead. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

An early morning string of thunderstorm toppled trees and knocked out power for more than 3,000 residents in Riverhead and Flanders Wednesday.

According to a PSEG outage map, about 2,500 customers in Jamesport and 555 residents in Flanders lost power due to the storm. As of 8:30 a.m., power had been restored to most of the Jamesport properties around Tuthill Lane, according to the map. 

A further 300 customers were without power in Southold Town.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 6:18 a.m. A weather station at East Moriches clocked wind gusts at 53 mph, said meteorologist Faye Barthold.

The strong storm had local road crews clearing roadways Wednesday morning.

“We had a couple of trees come down,” said Highway Superintendent George “Gio” Woodson.

Two or three trees had come down to block the road on Marcy Avenue and Kings Drive.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Mr. Woodson said. “By now we’ve got everything open.” Riverhead police said no one was injured during the storm.

A downed tree in front of Aquebogue Elementary School. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)
A downed tree in front of Aquebogue Elementary School. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)