Long Island cleans up after weekend storm

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Heavy rain and howling winds left thousands of Long Islanders dealing with the damage Monday morning. The timing of the storm -- hitting on the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy -- was all too eerie for some residents. 

A tremendous tree toppled onto Gerri Striga's car in Huntington Station. She said it reminded her of Sandy.

Madaline Montanez said the storm sounded like a train was coming through. She has been without power since Sunday night. 

Jeffrey Weir with PSEG Long Island said the electrical company is constantly doing preventative maintenance. At the height of the storm, more than 46,000 customers were without power. By midafternoon that number was less than 20,000. PSEG hopes to have 95 percent of the outages restored by midnight. 

Hanging wires closed off a road in Babylon. Workers were restoring power in Roslyn. East in Melville, crews worked to replace utility poles and tangled wires. Weir said 700 crew members were working 16-hour shifts. More workers were coming in from New Jersey to help.

Downed trees and wires aren't the only problems. Residents along the shore are dealing with flooding. Steven James said he woke up to a foot and a half of water in the basement and water up to the front step of the house. He spent the day cleaning up his yard in Patchogue.