Message from the Mayor: Storm and Coyote Update 4-March-2018
Posted on: March 4, 2018 - 1:26pm
Fellow residents,
The County continues to recover from the storm as assistance begins to arrive from out of state. This email covers the latest updates and a reminder regarding actions we are taking on the coyote situation.
Storm Update
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The storm’s aftermath continues through the entire County – some 17,000 homes have had power restored but 57,000 homes are still without power. A few were addressed in Hastings, but we still have 319 homes out in Hastings. (These statistics are available to all, at summary levels, on the Con Ed site here https://apps.coned.com/stormcenter/external/default.html) Outages includes a large cluster centered on Euclid Avenue and another large cluster in Uniontown, with smaller clusters at lower Mt. Hope and Cliff, Fairmont, and Hollywood Drive. County impacts were huge – half the power (or more) is out in Mamaroneck, Larchmont, Yorktown and others.
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The storm’s aftermath continues through the entire County – some 17,000 homes have had power restored but 57,000 homes are still without power. A few were addressed in Hastings, but we still have 319 homes out in Hastings. (These statistics are available to all, at summary levels, on the Con Ed site here https://apps.coned.com/stormcenter/external/default.html) Outages includes a large cluster centered on Euclid Avenue and another large cluster in Uniontown, with smaller clusters at lower Mt. Hope and Cliff, Fairmont, and Hollywood Drive. County impacts were huge – half the power (or more) is out in Mamaroneck, Larchmont, Yorktown and others.
Con Ed will have 275 crews in Westchester by the end of today and a total of 340 by tomorrow as trucks arrive from Staten Island, Brooklyn and further afield, including Ohio, Texas and even Canada. Con Ed has indicated that 90% of the power should be restored by Tuesday night, and all Hastings homes theoretically fall within that 90%. Our experience during Superstorm Sandy is to treat these predictions with some skepticism. We have not seen a Con Ed truck yet in town, and tree removal as a result has not even begun and lines remain live. We have asked them to prioritize Broadway and Farragut as they are emergency vehicle access roads. We are in contact with Con Ed through our municipal liaison and we have been on the county-wide conference calls. To say people are agitated is to state the obvious (or understate the obvious). Con Ed has protocols in place that prioritize emergency services, road access and schools, and then they work through the pockets of outages utilizing logic that isn’t always apparent but also not easily swayed by yelling. We continue to monitor.
What you need to know:
- Downed wires are still “hot” – energized. THEY REMAIN DANGEROUS. Do not approach them and make sure your dog is on a short leash. Live wires will kill instantly.
- If you haven’t registered your outage with Con Ed, do so here (www.coned.com). If you have done so, do not do so again.
- Assume you will be without power through at least Tuesday. Plan accordingly. If power is restored sooner, we will celebrate.
- If you need shelter, the Andrus Home is generously offering a limited number of rooms. Please contact the Police Department if you need shelter (914-478-2344).
- The Community Center is open as a warming center. We have free wifi as well. The library also offers free wifi. If you want to charge your phone, you can bring it to the Community Center too. The Fire Department is knocking on doors to check on people and are offering the Uniontown Fire station on Rose Street as a warming center where you might even score a cup of coffee.
- Don’t call the Police Department for updates: they have no new information. Call only if it is a true emergency. We will put out a daily bulletin to keep you informed. It will be posted on the Community Center front door and Library front door during the duration of the emergency.
- Check on your elderly or disabled neighbors if their power is out. The temperature will remain in the 35-45 degree range and so houses are going to lose their stored heat pretty quickly.
- Because lines are still down and live, and so many roads are still blocked, Hastings Schools are likely to be closed tomorrow. Please keep an eye out from School Superintendent Sinasis on this issue later today.
Coyote Update
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The coyote that was killed after attacking a County police officer was rabid, the Department of Health reports. There have been no subsequent attacks. Since rabies has a two-week latency, we are forced to assume that any coyotes in Hillside (where we believe the coyote originated from) may be infected but not yet showing aggressive behavior. We are going to keep the parks closed for the next two weeks as a professional trapper focuses on attempting to trap any coyotes in Hillside, Uniontown and Quarry parks. The trapper may also bring in a sharpshooter in the dusk and early evening hours as well. Do not go in the woods until the Village reopens the parks or let your dogs or cats out or off the leash during the duration of this emergency. You put your pets at lethal risk if you do so and the Village cannot be held responsible. No coyotes were snared overnight.
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The coyote that was killed after attacking a County police officer was rabid, the Department of Health reports. There have been no subsequent attacks. Since rabies has a two-week latency, we are forced to assume that any coyotes in Hillside (where we believe the coyote originated from) may be infected but not yet showing aggressive behavior. We are going to keep the parks closed for the next two weeks as a professional trapper focuses on attempting to trap any coyotes in Hillside, Uniontown and Quarry parks. The trapper may also bring in a sharpshooter in the dusk and early evening hours as well. Do not go in the woods until the Village reopens the parks or let your dogs or cats out or off the leash during the duration of this emergency. You put your pets at lethal risk if you do so and the Village cannot be held responsible. No coyotes were snared overnight.
We are fortunate to have a dedicated small-town municipal force and volunteer Fire Department that continues to care for residents in distress. We rely on your patience, good humor, forbearance and generosity through this emergency. It should pass pretty quickly. The we can look back and shake our heads at the confluence of calamities and know that we handled it well.
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski
Mayor
mayor@hastingsgov.org
Mayor
mayor@hastingsgov.org