No Power until December?

Folks on Long Island aren't happy to hear that some homes won't have power until December some time. I'm not exactly sure why this is other than the fact of how hard Long Island was hit by Hurricane Sandy. Since many homes were damaged destroyed or just washed away completely there likely much of the wiring above and below ground was likely washed away too. Since I was raised and trained as the son of an Electrical Contractor, especially if power was underground and damaged or washed away it takes a whole lot of time to get it up and going once again. Whereas even if you are trying to replace poles to put your 1000 volt lines along the top, I hear that Telephone poles are in short supply on the east coast at this time and all power companies are having to compete for them at this point.