Northern Westchester

Con Edison is distributing dry ice in Armonk at North Castle Community Park, 205 Business Park Drive, and at the Cortlandt Community Center at 29 Westbrook Drive.

Official announcements have directed residents to IBM but the company has no dry ice.

Good afternoon. We’ve had a busy four days participating in the coverage of Irene. That said, we have been commenting on the storm and its impact. Here’s a digest of opinion content published since Sunday:

Editorials
Get used to warnings, New York, Sunday, Aug. 28
Climate change may continue to prompt storms like Irene, we argue. We write:

… New Yorkers will have to get used to the uncertainty, the warnings, the abundance of caution. The reason: climate change and where we live and build. Legitimate scientists — as opposed to global-warming deniers — disagree on whether global warming will make for stronger and more frequent Atlantic hurricanes. What is beyond dispute, though, is that the damage risk has grown significantly, because of the flood — of buildings and people — to coastal areas. The growth comes as sea levels on the East Coast have increased about six inches more than the global average. …

Irene was more than we needed, Monday, Aug.29

Give recovery aid where you can, Wednesday, Aug. 31

Columns and Community Views
Suffern residents return to mess, Bob Baird, Tuesday, Aug. 30
Irene can act as a learning tool, Arthur H. Gunther III, Tuesday, Aug. 30
Chatter about Irene was more vigilance than hype, Phil Riesman, Tuesday, Aug. 30

Westchester County Legislators Peter Harckham, D-Katonah, and Michael Kaplowitz, D-Somers, are the latest local officials to express frustration with “the lack of information and the less-than-impressive restoration efforts” by power companies in the wake of Hurricane Irene.

New York State Electric & Gas and Con Edison crews have raised the ire of several Yorktown officials for delays in restoring power to thousands of residents.

“I understand the magnitude of the disaster we are dealing with,” Harckham said in a press release Tuesday. “However, I am disappointed with the lack of communication between NYSEG and the municipalities. Con Edison has at least provided ‘municipal liaisons’ to work on-site with the Supervisors and their key personnel, which facilitates necessary communication.”

Kaplowitz, who chairs the County Board’s Environment & Energy Committee, agreed added, ”There is no reason that two days after the storm NYSEG cannot properly communicate with elected officials, and provide some real information such as how many crews they have in each town and why it could take until next week to restore some residents.”

Both say they have been fielding dozens of calls from residents and local officials complaining of downed polls, lack of dry ice, lengthy outages and no answers. They  have spent the last two days at senior citizen apartment complexes and local town halls, in attempts to facilitate some relief and provide answers.

As of this morning, Con Ed is reporting 18,489 outages in Westchester County; NYSEG reports 25,716 in Westchester and Putnam.

State Sen. Greg Ball, R — Patterson, will call for a Senate investigation into poor response times and communication failures on Saturday at a press conference in Putnam Valley.

“This is not a third-world country,” said Ball. “These companies need to begin to more immediately respond to abandoned customers, struggling for basic answers and information. A suggestion of two weeks without service is unacceptable and begs for an independent hearing and investigation into New York’s apparent inability to recover and respond.”

With power out at John Jay High School, John Jay Middle School, Lewisboro Elementary School and Meadow Pond Elementary School, the Katonah-Lewisboro School District has announced that opening day will still be Sept. 7 but all activities through Friday have been canceled, including Kindergarten orientation, new student orientation, teacher meetings and meetings with guidance counselors.

Coaches will provide information on practices and students who have not yet received information on a bus pickup location should use the same bus stop as last year. The Superintendent’s Conference Day for all faculty and staff will take place as planned on Sept. 6.

Officials have announced that Con Edison is distributing dry ice in Armonk at North Castle Community Park, 205 Business Park Drive, and at the Cortlandt Community Center at 29 Westbrook Drive.

With power out at North Salem Middle School/High School and no phones or Internet at either school, several activities before the opening day of school have been canceled and there will be a two-hour delay on the first day, Sept. 6. Read the full announcement from the district below:

Update from the North Salem CSD

The Superintendent Conference Days scheduled for September 1 and 2 are canceled. The first day for students will still be Tuesday September 6, with a two hour delay for students only. We will open at the normal time for staff so that we can prepare to welcome students back.

We still do not have phones, internet or email at either school. We have no power or water at the high school. Updates on the status of these issues will be provided on the website, so please check back frequently.

The PQ Family Open House scheduled for September 1 is canceled. Supply Packs will be given to students on Tuesday September 6.

We are able to hold outdoor athletic team practices at the high school.

We are all looking forward to “getting back to normal” and hope that you and your families are making it through this week safely.

Electric power is anticipated to be restored to at least 65 percent of homes in the town of Somers, reports the Town Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy. The shelter in the Activity Center at Heritage Hills will remain open.

“Now while that is good news it means that will still have 35 percent without power.  Crews are working to get power restored to all homes as quickly as possible,” Murphy said. “I can’t say enough about our emergency personnel and how they have responded in this storm.”

From the announcement:

The Town of Somers has been informed by NYSEG that 65% of the Town will be restored with power by 7pm on Tuesday August 30th, which includes Heritage Hills and the more densely populated areas. The more outlying areas will have a longer restoration period. We will keep you updated as we are informed from NYSEG. At 1:00pm on Tuesday August 30th, dry ice will be available for distribution at the Upper Reis Parking Lot. There are LIMITED amounts of dry ice. We anticipate receiving more for distribution later in the day. Bottled water and potable water will also be available at Upper Reis. Potable water is also available at the Granite Springs Fire House and the Amawalk Fire House.

While New York City got so much of the attention, it was the northern suburbs that sustained the lion’s share of the local damage from Irene. With the benefit of hindsight, do you think better planning and development might have made for less damage?

Tell us what you think:

Much of Somers — 7,661 out of 9,098 customers — are without electric power, New York State Gas & Electric reports on its website.

But so far Town Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy says she has not been able to get information on when power will be restored.  She said she knows many downed power lines have caused the problem but that residents want to make plans based on when they will get their electricity back.

“Power is a huge issue and not knowing is a huge issue,” she said. “We are hoping NYSEG will give us an indication of when power will be restored.”

As well Monday morning, a water main broke in Heritage Hills requiring the evacuation of 20 homes in that complex. Murphy said she hopes the repair will be completed by the end of the day.

The Activity Center in Heritage Hills remains open for residents from anywhere in Somers who want/need a place to stay that is safe and has lights.