The phone call in the dead of night that woke Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico one year ago Tuesday brought news of a power-packed thunderstorm that buffeted Suffolk's North Shore, worst of all in Stony Brook, where the dam supporting Harbor Road at centuries-old Mill Pond collapsed.

His Yankees cap fixed atop his uncombed hair, Panico watched the water rush out of the pond, leaving a trail of dead fish and damaged homes.

"It’s a blur; I just remember vividly all of the lights — emergency management personnel, fire departments that were out there," Panico recalled of the moment he pulled up to Harbor Road in Stony Brook, which remains barricaded a year later , to prevent cars from driving into the pit where the dam stood.

"As the sun came up," he added, "you saw the exten

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