Update: Travel Trauma for The Commute Home

A powerful storm – and in Queens, a possible tornado – ripped through the region, bringing down power lines and trees. The storm temporarily stranded Port Washington commuters in Penn Station and caused drivers on local roads to find alternate routes to their destinations.

Many stores along with the traffic signals on Main Street were dark because of power outages. Port Washington police advise that everyone use extreme caution. 

"People were just crowded outside in front of the stores on Main Street," said Pam Levy, who went to pick up her daughter early from class at Zawacki Dance Studio once the power went out. "There were live wires dangling on Mackey, and Davis was closed off. It was scary to get to the studio because the traffic signals were out."

Commuters heading home on the 5:44 p.m train on the Long Island Long Island Rail Road were sent back to Penn Station. Currently service is temporarily suspended west of Jamaica on all LIRR branches. No trains are traveling between Penn Station and Jamaica and Jamaica and Brooklyn.

Service suspension coincides with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority hearing regarding service cuts and fare hikes, being held in Garden City, where MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jay H. Walder had this to say.

"We've been able to restore some limited service on the Long Island Railroad from the Atlantic terminal, east," Walder told the crowd. "We do not have service out of Penn Station still. We do not expect to have service in or out of Penn Station for at least another 90 minutes. There are trees down on the tracks at Forest Hills and other places so we simply cannot run trains. We also do not have service right now on the J, M, L, or 7 lines in all of part of what appears to have been a tornado that went through the New York area, and we're grappling with that."

According to a North Shore Alert notification the storm left large portions of Port Washington without power including most of Main Street and portions of Shore Road.

The alert stated, "There are many downed power lines. And there is no north-south access on Port Blvd near Longview Rd. Use Shore Road to travel North South." According to the alert, Longview Road access from East Shore Road to Port Washington Blvd. is still open in both directions.

In addition, a tree took down four primary electrical lines on Irma Avenue, forcing closure.

At 10:18 p.m., the LIRR released the following alert: "The LIRR anticipates the restoration of AM rush hour service to Penn Station with some cancellations possible. However, service on the Port Washington Branch remains suspended and may not be restored by the AM Rush.  Shuttle service will run overnight between Jamaica and Brooklyn."

Geoffrey Walter and Peter Verry contributed to this report.