Russ, it will be a very rough winter for your friends in Long Island. My son is a foreman for a tree and landscaping company in New England .He and crew were hired to go to NY to clear out the trees, branches, etc with bucket trucks. but waited for two days in a designated parking lot, being paid, doing nothing because the NY electric company would not authorize the work, electric company representatives would not show up. Other crews from other states did do bucket work because the people were begging and when the bucket operators reported that they helped people in damaged areas they were fired and sent home with out pay. This is a very cruel way to tell people to leave their home and go away .