Halloween Storm Update

It's two days since Hurricane Sandy hit Scarsdale and the big question is when; i.e. when will the 4,200 customers without power have it restored. We stopped by the Public Safety Building to speak to Lieutenant Thomas Altizio this Wednesday morning to try to get some answers and he shared the following with us:

The Village is at the mercy of Con Edison, who is unable to provide any projection on when power will be fully restored in our area.  Con Edison has only one crew in Scarsdale, which is now assessing the damage and deactivating power lines so that the restoration work can begin. They have not committed to send additional crews nor have they provided a schedule for when the power will come back. The Scarsdale Department of Public Works is clearing major routes and removing trees that are resting on power lines.

Lieutenant Altizio warned that some who do have power now may have it cut off as Con Ed works to repair damaged utility poles and wires. In addition to power service, repairmen from Verizon and Cablevision will also need to come to Scarsdale to restore phone, television, cable and wireless service.

Scarsdale Public Schools are closed today October 31 and Altizio did not know when they will reopen. Power to Scarsdale Middle School is out

Chiefs Brogan and Cain

The Village’s infrastructure was also seriously impacted by the storm. There is currently no communications at Scarsdale Village Hall. Primary phone lines to the Public Safety Building are down, along with all email and digital communications. Police and firefighters are using a radio system and have just two working phone lines – so please only call 911 in an emergency. The outage of the state-of-the-art Lightpath system is due to the failure of a regional hub which is beyond the control of the Village. Police Chief Brogan and his command staff have been staying at the Public Safety Headquarters round the clock since the storm hit and manning the emergency operations center to respond to calls.

As for roadways, many are blocked with yellow tape, and police ask that if you drive to refrain from driving through taped off areas. Fenimore, Heathcote and the Post Roads are open.

Altizio said that Hurricane Sandy had caused the most damage to the Village of any storm to date and asked everyone to be patient with the recovery. He said that Scarsdale was fortunate in that there were no fatalities or major injuries. However, one firefighter was injured when he was returning home from his shift at 4 am on Tuesday morning. A branch pierced his windshield and struck him in the chest.

Continue to check Scarsdale10583 for daily updates.