Lynbrook Prepares for Hurricane Earl

With Hurricane Earl barreling up the eastern coast of the United States, Lynbrook officials are already preparing for the possibility of the village being affected.
   
"We're definitely keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't [hit Lynbrook]," said Phil Healy, superintendent of the village Department of Public Works (DPW). "We'll do our best to be prepared for anything we need to do."
   
Healy said the village's Emergency Management Office has been coordinating hurricane preparedness with Nassau County for years, and expressed confidence that the village would be able to handle the situation if Hurricane Earl did reach Lynbrook.
   
If the village experiences power outages, downed trees and/or flooding, Healy said the best thing for residents to do is remain calm and to contact Village Hall, which has a 24-hour switchboard. Officials will then send out the appropriate emergency crews.
   
"Stay calm, help your neighbor," Healy said."There's always many, many resources — police, fire, DPW — you know we're going to get there."
   
The village's Emergency Management Office has a website with valuable information on how to prepare your family, home, even pets, for a hurricane. Residents can also tune their radio to 1620 AM for Emergency Management Office broadcasts and updates.
   
According to the National Weather Service, Hurricane Earl is expected to pass about 150 miles southeast of Long Island during the afternoon on Friday, which puts Nassau outside the range of the most powerful hurricane-force winds. However, experts still anticipate that some wind and rain from the storm will reach Nassau.   
   
"In our forecast for Nassau County right now, we're basically showing winds picking up to probably around 20-25 miles per hour, with gusts probably around 30 [mph] during Friday afternoon," National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Struckmann said on Wednesday. "Probably based on the current track, there would be some periods of showers, more so in the east part of the county than the west part of the county."