A sudden atmospheric outburst on what had previously been a cloudy, drizzly day rampaged through the village in the early evening of Saturday, March 8, with gusts of wind hitting a reputed 70 mph. Like a temper tantrum, its outburst of emotion was precipitous, headlong and short-lived. Brief, but furious, the two-minute maelstrom savaged parts of the village in which it took all of several days to recover.

Power was zapped in portions of the village as the whipping winds uprooted a large tree at 140 Magnolia Avenue and sent it hurtling downward with such force that two LIPA poles between Adams and Ward Streets came crashing down with it. Before the cleanup was over a third LIPA pole would be added to the list of casualties.

Portions of Magnolia Avenue and its surrounding streets descended into pitch darkness. My own block of Laurel Street was among the unlucky few. An inky darkness suffused the night save a few homes that were illuminated, here and there, with candlelight dancing in the eventide. In these situations, it is good to remember where one has put the flashlight rather than frantically groping for it in the moody, irrevocable dark. Preparation is everything.

I was in contact with Deputy Mayor Kevin Greene, who heads up our Emergency Management Committee, and the first reports were encouraging. LIPA informed him that power would be restored in an hour or two. This report proved to be wildly optimistic although for some streets power was indeed restored, considering the damage, in a relatively short period of time.

One tries to be stoical, reasoning that the human race had lived without electrical power for most of history and millions throughout the globe still do. Surely we could do without these luxuries for a little while. As the minutes and then the hours drag on interminably, I watch in silence as a caravan of LIPA and Verizon trucks, their yellow globular lights somberly piercing the night, parade up my street to the scene of destruction.

While other areas regained power, Laurel Street, as if it were a solitary witness of the storm, remained starkly unilluminated throughout the night. As mayor of the village, this is a blessing in disguise. We purposely never pave a street where an elected official lives so that there is no mistaking public service for private privilege. In the same vein, it wouldn't look kosher to have power restored on my block while others were still blacked out. But since the exact opposite was true, I hastened to assure my neighbors on Laurel Street that events unfolded by chance and not by design.

With nothing to do but sleep, the next sensation was the morning light emanating not from any electrical connection mind you, but what Shakespeare memorably called the garish sun. LIPA now told us the depressing news that power would not be restored until 2:30 in the afternoon. Some of us took the opportunity to view first hand the damage that resulted in our predicament. The extent of it was somewhat startling and we glumly resigned ourselves to spending the next few hours without modern conveniences.

Then just as suddenly, at 11:30 a.m., power was miraculously restored with the elation of that fact being unmistakably communicated by the smiling faces of neighbors who sprung out their doors with the hopeful expectation that others had experienced a similar result. It turned out to be a nice, pleasant Sunday after all.

Elsewhere in the village limbs of a tree on private property that damaged a couple of cars and another uprooted tree, again on private property, did considerable damage to a garage. Other than that, with the exception of miscellaneous branches that littered some of the streets, we were left mostly unscathed. There was, however, some good news about trees that we received last week. KeySpan sent the village a check for $2,650 for the 53 wire friendly trees the village had planted in the fall of 2007.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the engineers and technicians, an uncelebrated bunch, whose know-how in harnessing the forces of nature have made our lives more comfortable and livable than our ancestors could have ever imagined. I also want to thank our Public Works Department for their dedication and efforts during the storm and their professionalism in dealing with the ordeals that it left in its wake.

It is with regret that I report that Arthur Connolly, who has chaired the Floral Park Village Library Board, has requested not to be reappointed for another five-year term. With the humility that is so indelibly part of his character, he asked that we pay no tribute to his distinguished service at a village board meeting. I grant his request with dismay and instead satisfy, unsatisfactorily, my immense gratitude for his contributions by writing a few lines on his behalf.

During his tenure, Arthur has been a passionate advocate of the library but one that has respectfully entertained divergent points of view. Reserved, unassuming, yet a profoundly serious and principled man he has deployed his intelligence, vision and high-mindedness not for self-aggrandizement but in service to his neighbors, community and the patrons of our library.

Most conspicuously, Arthur cared deeply about meeting the changing needs of our residents but without sacrificing his discriminating perspective on the vast and encompassing needs of a full service village. With his civility, personal grace and unfailing sense of mission he not only brought stability and strength to the board but also shepherded in new and dynamic leadership.

He is, without a doubt, a seminal figure in the contemporary history of our library and along with the "Friends of the Library," all those who cherish the literary, musical and artistic blessings of that great and grand institution owe him a debt of gratitude.