Tropical Storm Isaias: Living on a dead end street, trapped by live wires – The Journal News

Yonkers' Greenwood Road residents are trapped on their dead end street, with fallen power lines and a giant tree. Rockland/Westchester Journal News

YONKERS Cassandra Mondonedo knows trees are down everywhere and that crews are working to restore power I get it, she says.

She also knows its not safe that the only way to leave her street is by walking over live wires still pinned under a tree three days after Tropical Storm Isaias swept through.

It's so frustrating, the 38-year-old said, echoing a chorusheard across the region in the storm's wake. We're not in a rush to get power. It's more about the access to get out because it's not safe.

Greenwood Road resident Cassandra Mondonedo is pictured in front of a huge tree and downed power lines on their dead end street Aug. 7, 2020. Four families are stranded on the end of the street. (Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)

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Mondonedo lives at the end of Greenwood Road, in the citys Dunwoodie section, with her disabled 82-year-old father, Fred, and her sister, Cathy. Her sister isa nurse practitioner who has been unable to get to work in the city since Tuesdays storm, when a tree fell across their road, snapping a utility pole and pinning the neighbors in behind it.

Greenwood Road residents in Yonkers, from left, Angela Macheda, Cassandra Mondonedo, Laura Macheda and Gina Mimiasie are pictured behind a huge tree and toppled power lines on their dead end street Aug. 7, 2020. Four families are stranded on the end of the street. (Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)

The fire department came that night, saw the live wire and said it would wait for Con Ed. The first Con Ed representative came about 10 a.m. the next day, the first in a line of reps,carrying cameras to document the damage but no chainsaws to remove the tree.

The utility put up caution tape and sent someone else: a worker to watch the trapped wire, which Mondonedo says is still live. A Con Ed rep was there Friday, in a red truck noting that a live wire was nearby.

Everything is live, Mondonedo said, her voice rising in frustration. Because we've been calling ConEd so much, they sent a security guard to watch us. They put caution tape lines over the lines that we have to walk over. We already know how to maneuver over it, but everything is still live.

Getting around the wire is something she and her neighbors have learned to do, although its not easy.

A Con Edison representative watches over the area where a huge tree and downed power lines have fallen on Greenwood Road in Yonkers, a dead end street Aug. 7, 2020. Four families are stranded on the end of the street. (Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)

It's not like a straight shot, she said. You have to go down one retaining wall, up another retaining wall, through trees with wires hanging down. It's tough.

The neighbors worry that an ambulance would never be able to get down their street. They have a paralyzed neighbor, someone on oxygen, someone coming home from the hospital.

"We told them we were on the priority list. The rep took my name and said 'We're trying to make everyone a priority. We'll eventually get to you.'

Eventually could be next week.

The rep my neighbor spoke to yesterday said we'd have power by August 10, she said.

In the meantime, they keep working the phones, negotiating those retaining walls, and relying on friends and family to give them rides or drop off food.

It's peanut butter and jelly during the day and then if I can get out at night to go and get something and bring it back, that's what I do, she said.

Peter D. Kramer is a 32-year staffer at The Journal News. He can be reached at pkramer@lohud.com or on Twitter at @PeterKramer. Read his latest stories. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Sign up today for a digital subscription.

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Tropical Storm Isaias: Living on a dead end street, trapped by live wires - The Journal News