600 Homes Still Without Power - Thursday March 18
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Here is today's update from Mayor Carolyn Stevens on Con Ed's progress in restoring power to Village residents. The number of households withour power in Scarsdale is down to a little over 600 - Con Edison expects to have 500 back by about 11:00PM tonight. That will leave about a 100 hundred more homes to be restored. Those 100 are scattered over the Village in no particluar pattern. At present there are 45 crews working on 8 outages - those 8 outages represent the 500 households they hope to get back by tonight. The are presently working on a large loop in and around Mamaroneck Road including Sheldrake, Cushman and Secor; Drake and Ferncliff; Sherbrooke, Donellan, Johnson Park and Windmill; and Brite and a couple of other streets in Arthur Manor near the Eastchester border.
The Public Service Commission will decide if Con Ed has to pay any claims for food or losses. Storm claims are normally denied - however if the outage is more than three days (which this has been) the Public Service Commission may review the circumstances and award payment for food losses. For more information, check the Con Ed website under Storm Claims. You may also wish to write the Public Service Commission to encourage them to make Con Ed pay certain damages.
On the Con Edison website you can also find a map that shows the location of outages. Check it out at: http://apps.coned.com/weboutageinfo/stormcenter/default.aspx
We are Getting There …Storm Notes Wednesday
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Mayor Carolyn Stevens reports that we are making progress though we still have a long way to go. Yesterday, frustrated with Con Edison’s performance in Scarsdale, Stevens appealed to our elected officials… including Nita Lowey, Suzi Oppenheimer, Amy Paulin and Bill Ryan. They all followed up and today we saw the results. Up until today we had only one crew to de-energize the lines, and no workmen to restore the power.
This all changed today when crews from as far away as Georgia and Michigan were visible on the streets. They arrived last night and at first they stood around waiting as they did not have our grid plans. Once this was corrected they were able to get to work.
As of 9:00 pm tonight, we have 1,500 households without power – this is out a total of 5,600 homes – so some are still in the dark. However, Con Edison is now making rapid strides and 18 crews will work through the night. By Friday, everything should be back to normal. The number of road closures is down to 27 and 17 are being worked on now. With the exception of Sherbrooke Road, all roads are expected to be cleared by 9 am tomorrow morning.
Our elected officials were not the only ones paying attention to Scarsdale today. Mayor Stevens was interviewed by Fox News, ABC, and CBS and if you have power you may be able to see her on television tonight.
Here is an update from Mayor Carolyn Stevens on today’s status:
As you probably know by now, the Scarsdale Schools will be open tomorrow. Power was restored to Fox Meadow, Quaker Ridge and Greenacres Elementary School this morning. Post Road traffic lights have been fixed and we have crews here working on resetting the lights. Con Ed has a significant presence in the Village today and power is finally being restored. Village tree crews have worked with Con Ed line crews to open a number of streets and school bus pick-up should not be an issue tomorrow. As of 9:00 pm we have 1,500 households without power but that number seems to be diminishing by the hour. We may have crews actually working through the night. Con Ed has been contrite and recognizes that they dropped the ball and they appear determined to make sure everyone is back by Friday - if not before.
For people who have damage to their houses the Building Department has prepared a sheet to explain if a building permit is required and an expedited procedure to receive one. You can view the form here.
The New York State Insurance Department has established a special help line for those having difficulties with their insurers - that number is (800) 339-1759 and it is available 9 AM -5 PM.
In addition, a Scarsdale10583.com reader, let us know that you can file a claim with Con Edison for spoiled food. You can claim up to $200 in food by supplying an itemized list. For up to $450 in coverage for food and medications you need to supply receipts.
Instructions and forms can be found here: http://www.coned.com/customercentral/lawclaims.asp
Please comment below and let us know where you live, and if you do or do not have power!
Police Update Tuesday March15
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Lieutenant Andrew Matturo gave Scarsdale10583.com an update on the restoration and a report on the activities of police, firemen and village personnel during the weekend storm. He said that in his 26 years working for the police “this was the worst storm he had ever seen.” Police received just under 1,000 phone calls due to storm-related incidents, with 170 reports of downed trees and 19 homes hit. Two shifts of policemen worked through the night on Saturday as well as 20-30 employees of the Department of Public Works, firefighters and the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Two homes went up in flames simultaneously on Saturday night. The Mayor, Village Manager, Head of the Department of Public Works and others came to Village Hall to manage the response. Both paid and volunteer personnel deserve our thanks for the extraordinary job they did to assist Village residents in need.
Though progress in restoring power may seem slow, Maturro reports that Con Edison is moving forward and has brought in crews from as far away as North Carolina. You may notice trucks from “Pike Electric, N.C.” on the streets and they are here to help. Though most of our main thoroughfares are open, there is still considerable debris on the side streets. Matturo hopes that power will be restored to all residents by Friday and thanks you for their patience.
The bottom line is that no one in Scarsdale was badly injured or killed. Some were trapped by fallen trees and wires in cars and in homes , but everyone escaped injury. Given the strength of the winds and the scope of the storm this is nothing short of miraculous. Regrettably, one man who was visiting Hartsdale died when a tree hit his car on Saturday night.
Scarsdale Schools will be closed on Wednesday as buses cannot pass through our side streets. In addition, power must be restored to Greenacres, Fox Meadow and Quaker Ridge elementary schools. Broken traffic lights on Post Road are also a hazard and hopefully they can be fixed by Thursday. The district has used up their last “snow day.”
Today, with the sun out and temperatures in the sixties, it appeared that the worst was over. Clean-up crews were busy all over town and it looks like Scarsdale is returning to normal. Hang in and continue to send your comments and questions.
In other police news, thieves continued to plague Scarsdale this past week, with a home burglary in Greenacres and five car break-ins, all in Quaker Ridge.
The home burglary was on Oakstwain Road where someone entered the home around 5 pm on Saturday night by kicking in the front door. Taken were a 26” flat screen television, silverware, jewelry and currency. Also missing was a pillowcase -- reminiscent of the robberies last week where thieves took pillowcases, possibly to hold stolen goods.
The five car break-ins all took place during the night of March 11-12. On Vernon Road the driver’s side window of a 2010 Volkswagen was broken and a baritone saxophone and an iPod were stolen from the car. On Sycamore Road a 2008 BMW and an Alpersons truck were parked in the driveway. Vandals entered both and stole Nintendo games, clothing, silverware and fencing gear. The front passenger window of a 2008 Ford was broken on Black Birch lane and an iPod was stolen. Damage was done to the audio system as well. Also on Black Birch Lane the front passenger window of a 2006 Toyota was shattered and the car was searched. Nothing appears to have been taken. A 2005 Acura was also vandalized that night; the driver’s side window was smashed and missing were a GPS system and a Bluetooth headset.
At the parking garage at 2 Underhill Road, the cashier’s booth was entered during the night of 3/12. Someone pushed in the window air conditioning unit and stole $680 in cash and an iPod.
Two employees of the Scarsdale Medical Group on Popham Road reported thefts that had occurred in the past. Shamina Dickson said that two diamond rings and a gold anniversary band were taken from her work station on 2/13 while Eva Hernandez reported that $150 in cash had been taken from her pocketbook on 3/8.
Lucky Man: Balducci’s cashier Daisy Arauz found a wad of cash wrapped in a rubber band on the floor near her register on March 8th. Store manager Angel Caban called the police who unwrapped the roll and determined there was $1,980 in cash. They took the money to the police station for safekeeping. Mark J Stuart of Larchmont realized he had dropped his funds and called Balduccis to see if the cash was found. The store manager let him know that the money had been turned over to the police. Police reviewed the Balduccis surveillance video and interviewed Mr. Stuart. They determined that Mr. Stuart was the rightful owner of the money and returned it to him.
Lucky Lady: Leanne Moore of East End Avenue NYC called police to say that someone had removed two bags of clothing from her car. She had been shopping at LF in Scarsdale Village and placed her purchases in her car. She returned to the store and found her two bags of clothing in the store. A man had come in to the store with the bags and said that someone had placed them in his car. It appears that Ms. Moore put her bags in someone else’s car and lucky for her, he returned them.
A Connecticut woman in distress stopped at Scarsdale police headquarters at 5 am on the morning of 3/11. She said she had a migraine, was distressed over a strained family relationship and wanted to stop in and talk. She declined assistance and said she would go to White Plains Hospital and left the police trailer.
In the midst of the storm at 11 pm on Saturday night police were called by a Barry Road resident to say that kids were throwing cans in the street. When police arrived the group broke up and police found empty plastic cups in the street.
Police were called to assist in the evacuation of two elderly residents from their Brewster Road home on 3/14 when their heat and lights went off in the storm. Mr. Dowd suffers from Alzheimer’s and initially refused to leave but was eventually convinced to go stay at the Crowne Plaza with his wife.
Deaths: Isadore Levin, age 87 of 8 Brayton Road was suffering from pneumonia and a stroke died at home of natural causes on the morning of March 11th. Mrs. Susan Schweitzer, age 71 of 3 Sherbrooke Road was pronounced dead at 3 am on March 15.
Where Are the Lights?
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Here is a status update from Mayor Carolyn Stevens as of 9:00 PM on Tuesday:
-Scarsdale Village Hall has power in one half of the building
-Some of the traffic control devices on Post Rd. are working but need to be reset Quaker Ridge School and -Fox Meadow School should be restored sometime tonight and Greenacres School will hopefully be restored by tomorrow.
-There should be some significant improvement by tomorrow and we have been told that most homes should have power no later than Friday.
I have spent today talking to Con Ed and expressing the Village's displeasure and frustration at the lack of any real progress. I have also spoken with Bill Ryan (our County Legislator); Suzie Oppenheimer's office (our State Senator); and Nita Lowey's office (our Congresswoman). All three have been quite helpful in reaching out to Con Edison and finally this afternoon we started to see the results of my complaining and their intervention.
At a little before noon today we had a conference call with a Con Ed Vice President for electrical services and several other Con Ed personnel to tell them that the Village had not seen any progress in four days, and that we had only one electrical crew and one gas crew yesterday. We had been promised additional crews for today but none had appeared. Late this afternoon I met with Anthony Sutton the County's Commissioner for Emergency Services and Carlos Torres of Con Ed Emergency services to discuss what Con Ed would do to help to rectify the situation. We finally started to see some crews arrive this afternoon, however they did not have any orders or grid plans but that was eventually rectified and they got to work.
As of 7:00 PM we still had 49 roads closed due to trees with power lines that have not been de-energized by Con Ed. We have crews ready to remove the trees once Con Ed cuts the power and declares it safe.
Important Information from Mayor Stevens --Monday March 15
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At a municipal conference call today with Con Edison we were advised that there are still 67,000 customers in Westchester without power. There has been little restoration of power in the county. Most of the effort has gone towards de-energizing power lines so that trees that are blocking roads can be removed. Restoration of power can't really begin until Con Ed can get to the lines.
As of this morning Con Ed had two crews in Scarsdale working on de-energizing lines so that our village workers could remove trees. Scarsdale Village has also retained the services of an outside tree removal company to aid in the work. Con Ed is now saying that they expect to begin to restore power in Scarsdale starting later today but that many may not be restored until Thursday or Friday. Con Ed is bringing crews in from other parts of the country and they expect to have 160 crews working in the county with five assigned to Scarsdale. We hope to see these additional crews later today.
Con Ed advised us that some people who now have power may experience a loss of power as repairs are made. These outages should be temporary but could last two or three hours. Dry ice is available to everyone at three locations- New Rochelle City Hall, 515 North Street; Saxon Woods Park - Mamaroneck Ave, White Plains, and Empire City in Yonkers. Distribution hours are 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
In the village, 70% of households are still without power. Village Hall is open but is also without power. At one time we had 180 trees blocking roads and trees have damaged forty to fifty homes. Crews from the Scarsdale Department of Public Works are working non-stop with Con Edison to clear fallen trees.
As of noon today there was only one East West traffic corridor open: Mamaroneck Road to Fenimore Road. Post Road was open from Boulevard to White Plains. Heathcote Road, Drake Road and Weaver Street all had blockages. Sections of almost all major roads have been compromised by fallen trees and wires.
For those without power, please be careful when using candles; we have already had house fires. For those who have had some tree damage, please make sure that your chimneys have not been damaged and make sure your carbon monoxide alarms are working.
Building Department personnel are available to help people with damage to their homes. We have also instituted an emergency procedure for obtaining building permits.
If you do have power, think about taking in a neighbor or a friend without power - or at least inviting them over to warm up. Please check on any of your neighbors who are seniors - especially those who live alone. If you think that someone needs help, call the police at 722-1200.
Carolyn Stevens
Mayor
