As communities throughout Long Island were hit with this winter's first substantial snowstorm on Tuesday, the Village of Farmingdale seemed to be taking the weather in stride.

Village Clerk-Treasurer John Giordano said Tuesday afternoon that the Department of Public Works (DPW) crews had already plowed, salted and sanded every road in the village, and were ready to do so again if the storm persisted.

"When you first enter the village, you can tell when you do enter the village because the roads are all cleaned," Giordano said, commending Superintendent of Public Works Jack Scherer and his crews on their efforts. "In other areas outside the village they haven't been addressed yet."

He added that no major auto accidents or other emergencies had been reported in the village as a result of the weather.

"Even though it was windy earlier, there are no reports of any trees that came down, or any branches," Giordano said. "Somebody mentioned something about the threat of a power outage because the lights were blinking, but that never materialized."

Still car accidents and skid-outs were reported throughout Long Island due to slippery road conditions, as motorists struggled to travel in snow- and ice- covered terrain. Many schools were also closed throughout the Island, including the Farmingdale School District.

Most of Long Island received about four to five inches of snow Tuesday morning, the result of a winter storm that dumped up to two feet of the white stuff on mid-Atlantic states.

In the village, the most treacherous areas for driving were intersections, so DPW gave these first priority for plowing, sanding and salting, according to Giordano. "We addressed those problems first and foremost," he said.

Currently, the Village of Farmingdale Department of Public Works obtains its sand and salt from a Town of Oyster Bay storage facility, through a municipal contract. The Town sends the village a monthly bill based on the number of tons of sand and salt used. "That works quite well, because this way, we don't have to build our own sand and storage facility," commented Giordano. "To do that today, under strict Board of Health requirements, it would cost over $100,000."

The Village of Massapequa Park, which also obtains its sand and salt from the Town, is in the process of establishing its own sand and salt storage facility, in order to gain greater control over operations, and there has been talk of Farmingdale Village sharing in the venture with them. However, there have only been preliminary discussions about this, according to Giordano.

"We told them that we would consider that depending on the location that's selected," he said. "But in the meantime, we're going to continue with the Town, unless we work something out with Massapequa."

As Farmingdale braces for the rest of the winter storms that Mother Nature may have in store, Giordano noted that the village would like to ask local shopkeepers not to shovel or blow snow from the sidewalks into the street where shoppers usually park.

"They're doing a great job this year, shoveling the sidewalks - everybody's doing it quickly. But we heard a few complaints from shoppers that the store owners were shoveling the snow and putting it back into the parking spots," he said. "We hope in the future, that, - even though we're happy with the response this year from the store owners in shoveling - that they refrain from putting the snow back into the street.

The village clerk treasurer also reported that during this storm there was much compliance with a local law adopted in 1997 that prohibits street parking during more than two inches of snowfall, and commended residents on that. The regulation is aimed at making it easier for plow trucks to maneuver through the streets.