How Scarsdale's Emergency Operations Team Battled Irene

Most residents awoke on Sunday morning and were surprised and relieved to find that their homes were relatively intact. Though there had been driving rain during the night, initially it did not appear that many trees and wires were down and the majority of homes in Scarsdale had power. However after the storm seemed to have passed late Sunday afternoon, Scarsdale was hit by 35-45 mph winds that brought down more trees and power lines. As of Monday night 8/29, 750 homes in Scarsdale are without power. According to the Mayor, Con Edison repair crews are expected in Scarsdale anytime between now and Wednesday morning. Once they arrive, nearly all power will be restored within 24 hours, except for individual house service lines which are a reduced priority

A look at this week’s police blotter shows that beginning at 2 am on Sunday morning 8/28, police and firemen were answering calls every ten to fifteen minutes. Trees and branches were falling in quick succession, knocking out power lines all over the Village. Furthermore, flooding on Cayuga Road, Greendale and Oxford Road, and Fountain Terrace to name a few, made roads impassable and Village personnel had to block these roads off to prevent accidents. While residents slept, the Highway Department, Scarsdale Police and Firemen were busy all night clearing roads, moving wires and securing Scarsdale.

In total, Village crews responded to 90 locations for tree or debris removal; the Fire Department responded to 98 calls: 41 for flooding, 16 for suspicious gas odor, 32 for carbon and fire alarms and 9 for power problems, and the Police Department responded to approximately 120 calls that were storm related, assisting residents with their cars and homes and dealing with broken traffic lights.

At 6:00 pm on Saturday, the Village established an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and maintained constant operations there until 6:00pm on Sunday evening. The EOC was manned by Police, Fire, Public Works and Village management employees, with Public Works Director Benedict Salanitro functioning as the Incident Commander. The staff at the EOC coordinated the Villages’ response to all aspects of the emergency, while Police personnel at dispatch dealt with the high volume of emergency calls for service. During the peak hours of the storm, some police personnel worked over time to assist with the increased call volume. The Police Chief, Fire Chief, Public Works Director, Village Manager and Mayor were all in regular communication with EOC staff, and took part in county-wide telephone conferences through the Westchester County Office of Emergency Management. A great deal of planning, preparation and coordination went into minimizing storm damage and disruptions and to bringing the Village back to normal.

Take a look at the following police log – it was a very busy 24 hours for Scarsdale Village Personnel and we owe them our gratitude:
Fallen trees, wires and branches were reported at:

• 2:00 am on 8/28 on Bouldevard
• 2:12 am on 8/28 at Mamaroneck Road and Leatherstocking
• 2:30 am on 8/28 at 1120 Post Road
• 3:23 am on 8/28 on Nelson Road
• 3:41 am on 8/28 on Jefferson Road
• 9:17 am on 8/28 where a tree fell on a 2005 Toyota Prius parked on Bradford Road
• 9:57 am on 8/28 on Heathcote Road
• 10:07 am on 8/28 on Ridgecrest East
• 10:10 am on 8/28 on Saxon Woods Road
• 10:27 am on 8/28 on Dell Road
• 10:47 am on 8/28 when a tree fell onto the roof of 1207 Post Road and caused damage and leaking
• 11:02 am on 8/28 n Cohawney Road
• 11:26 am at 297 Boulevard
• 12:17 pm on 8/28 on Fountain Terrace
• 12:39 pm on 8/28 at Secor Road and the Heathcote Bypass
• 12:43 pm on 8/28 on Penn Boulevard
• 12:57 pm on 8/28 on Park Road where a tree had fallen and wire were on fire
• 13:14 pm on 8/28 on Carthage Road
• 3:36 pm on 8/28 on Mamaroneck Road where a transformer had blown
• 4:15 pm on 8/28 on Clarence Road for another transformer fire
• 4:23 pm on 8/28 on Clarence Road where electric wires were on top of a parked car
• 4:38 pm on 8/28 on Barry Road
• 4:49 pm on 8/28 at 1245 Post Road
• 5:05 pm on 8/28 on Palmer Avenue
• 5:07 pm on 8/28 on Continental Road
• 5:13 pm on 8/28 at 1025 Post Road
• 5:19 pm on 8/28 on Potter Road
• 5:20 pm on 8/28 on Stonehouse Road
• 5:22 pm on 8/28 on Fox Meadow Road
• 5:22 pm on 8/28 on Rock Creek Lane
• 5:36 pm on 8/28 on Walworth Avenue
• 5:57 pm on 8/28 at 1023 Post Road
• 6:03 pm on 8/28 on Lee Road
• 6:36 pm on 8/28 on Dobbs Terrace
• 7:29 pm on 8/28 on Mamaroneck Road at Cooper Road
• 8:06 pm on 8/28 on Wildwood Road
• 9:18 pm on 8/28 on Sherbrooke Road