10 Dispatches From Tropical Storm Irene

Though Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time is hit eastern Long Island, it still packed a powerful punch, leaving many without power for days, flooding some homes, causing massive dune erosion, and causing several trees to fall, some taking out power lines, others taking out vehicles or damaging homes.

Take a look back on 10 reports that East Hampton Patch filed before, during and after the storm:

• - While shelters are opening and people in low-lying areas are being asked to evacuate, East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson officially declared a State of Emergency on Saturday morning.

• - Montauk always knows how to have a good time and Saturday was no different. Stores and shops may be boarded up, but there were Hurricane Irene parties going on inside -- and sometimes outside -- some bars. Down at The Dock, there were Hurricane Irene specials and at Turtle Cove near the Montauk Point Lighthouse some surfers sneaked in to catch the waves.

• Hurricane Fears Send Drivers to the Pumps in Droves - Expecting widespread and perhaps long lasting power outages, the pumps at the gas stations in East Hampton are constantly flowing with a queue of cars at extend into the streets. "This is what you call mass fear," said Margaret Wickers of East Hampton, while at Hess.

• - People slowly filed into the designated shelters in Montauk and East Hampton on Saturday night.

• - Patch brought readers a live blog during and after the storm, posting updates frequently on the status of roads, power and more. Editors also quickly answered readers' questions about specific areas where their homes are, or where they have friends. Click the headline to be taken to a replay of the live blog.

• - Over 6,000 customers are without power on Sunday at noon as Hurricane Irene moves over the South Fork. The majority of those affected are still in Amagansett, on the north-west side of Napeague State Park.

• - Among the major damage being reported so far from Hurricane Irene were trees falling throughout town and the wind knocking the pumps over at McCoy Gas Station in Amagansett. Tidal surge caused water to overflow from the ocean into parking lots throughout the South Fork, including at  Beach , where part of the road, where the 15 minute parking was located, collapsed.

• Tree Crushes Car in East Hampton During Back-End of Storm - Amy O'Sullivan thought the worst was over on Sunday afternoon and thought about leaving her East Hampton home to go into town. "Thank God I didn't," she said looking at her car with a large tree across the roof, crushing it and the back windshield completely shattered.

• - Wendy Herzberg prepared for a power outage in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene on Sunday, but nearly five days into the outage, she had enough of getting no definitive answers from the Long Island Power Authority as to when she and her neighbors on Norfolk Drive, in the Clearwater Beach section fo Springs, would have the lights turned back on.

• VIDEO: Getting Rid of Fallen Trees, Hanging Limbs After Irene - Patch caught up with Michael Gaines, a certified master arborist and the owner of CW Arborists, as he and his crew worked to clean-up yards littered by Hurricane Irene.