4,000 Still Without Power More Than 48 Hours After Irene

Around 4,000 customers are still without power on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Long Island Power Authority. 

While some residents -- particularly in Amagansett -- are getting impatient, East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said LIPA crews have restored about 3,500 customers.

The power outages map may not be fully up-to-date, but many East Hampton Patch readers have written to say they are still without electricity.

The map still shows that 1,966 customers are still experiencing outages in Amagansett -- the same amount that lost power early on Sunday morning during the height of the storm when a transformer exploded.

In Montauk, 864 are still without power. There are 705 in Springs, more than half than initially after the storm. In Northwest Woods, there are 369 without electricity. Another 100 are located in East Hampton and Wainscott. 

Southampton Town has 7,433 without power. 

Reiko Gomez, who lives in Amagansett, wrote, "Getting frustrated that LIPA hasn't communicated more openly. Talk about keeping their customers 'in the dark!'" 

Another Amagansett resident said, "With all that's happened, we feel very lucky that we're OK and the house wasn't structurally impacted - a half dozen downed trees and more large branches, so no big deal."

But the supervisor said he's seen first-hand that crews are working hard to restore power in Montauk, East Hampton and even Amagansett. 

"I've been with LIPA the last three days. There were 7,000 people affected. As of 9 a.m. this morning, they restored 3,500 of them," he said.

Wilkinson acknowledged that there have been "a ton of complaints about LIPA and their response." 

"I've met with their crews. Their crews, by the way come from as far away as Kansas and Joplin, MO; People who have never seen the ocean," he said. "They are working feverishly to restore power."

"I can't judge myself whether or not the total manpower required by this job is being met," Wilkinson said. "I don't have competency to determine the amount of staffing for a storm of this magnitude."

He said that people should know, "The grid is not commercial-residential, part-time-full-time. It doesn't understand any of those attributes." 

"From what I understand, all the crew can tell is how many people on this line versus on that line are effected." 

Asked why some major intersections had some large trees still balancing on wires, Wilkinson said he wasn't sure how LIPA made their decisions, only that there were separate tree crews working with the power authority. 

"We're blessed that we didn't have any injury, blessed that we had a great plan early on," Wilkinson said. "Power interruptions are the last of the clean-up, although it's quite discomforting to our residents, LIPA is as focused as anyone."

What he said is most important, "It's going to be a beautiful Labor Day. I encourage people to come out."