Tree Removal Nearly Complete in Malverne

Travelling around Malverne on a typical day, visitors quickly notice the remarkable amount of trees within the one-square mile village.

This became even more apparent when Hurricane Irene barrelled through Sunday, taking out many maples and other trees around the neighborhood.

Paul Jessup, head of the Malverne Department of Works, estimates that anywhere from 75 to 100 trees have fallen in the village alone. He's seen mostly maples and Bradford Pears, and a few oaks, toppled over.

"Five fell on houses," Jessup said. They also hit cars, including a white BMW parked on Sydney, which is still pinned down under a portion of a tree.

Since live electrical wires are involved (Power is on in this part of the village), Jessup said they need to wait for the Long Island Power Authority to deengergize the system before they can remove the last part of tree.

"We can't work around wires," he said.

As a result, Sydney Avenue remains closed. Horton Avenue is also shut down but should reopen around 11:30 a.m., Jessup said.

All other roads around the village are open, a reflection of the work that the DPW crew has performed throughout the weekend, working in conjunction with Asplundh, a third party tree removal company contracted by LIPA and Malverne.

Starting at 9 p.m. Saturday, the DPW worked throughout the storm, stopping at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. They picked up where they left off Monday morning at 7:30 a.m., continued until 8:30 p.m. and were back on the job Tuesday at 7 a.m., clearing trees, opening roads and resuming regular sanitation pickup.

By Tuesday afternoon they will have put in a combined 40 hours so far.

"They didn't want to stop at all, but I told them it was too dark," Jessup said, explaining the dangers of operating their equipment at night.

Jessup expects to have all the post-Irene clean-up work done today.

"I'm extremly proud of my guys," Jessup said. "As trees were coming down we were taking them away."