Hurricane Floyd paid a visit to Long Island last Thursday. Although by then, it was downgraded to a "tropical storm," Roslyn Village officials were prepared for the worst, especially by Thursday afternoon. The village's Public Works employees, for instance, stayed on overtime to prepare for the storm.

As of Thursday afternoon, the village reported no flooding, no power outages, no fallen trees. However, the Bryant Library suffered a power outage that same day, forcing it to close early. And at least one residence on East Broadway was plummeted by a fallen tree.

By Thursday night, the worst, or close to it, had arrived. According to Roslyn Village officials, 800 of the village's 2,500 residences suffered a power outage from approximately Thursday night until early Saturday morning. Before then, several Roslyn restaurants had lost power, some as early as Wednesday night.

While praising the work of local Public Works officials, Roslyn Mayor Janet Galante expressed some unhappiness with the job performed by LIPA chairman Richard Kessel. Noting that Mr. Kessel is new at his position, the mayor thought some "evaluations and assessments" concerning LIPA's strategies during storm periods were in order. If a large percentage of Roslynites lost power during last week's minor storm, what will happen, the mayor speculated, if a major storm hits the area?

The village had to cancel a Municipal Hearing Recodification hearing at the Bryant Library Wednesday night. The village hopes to hold at least three public hearings on the matter before meeting its Jan. 1, 2000 adoption date. The purpose of the hearings is to look at all village laws and ordinances to see which ones need to be either eliminated or updated.

Other closings included the Roslyn Public Schools, which let out early on Thursday and the Bryant Library which closed at 1 p.m. on Thursday, also.

¬by Joe Scotchie