Irene Causes Flooding, Power Outages, in White Plains

Though there were downed wires, uprooted trees, roads closed, thousands without power and a few parking lots that looked more like lakes, White Plains made it through Hurricane Irene without the devastation many had feared earlier in the weekend.

“We were prepared for the worst, and thank goodness that didn’t happen,” Mayor Tom Roach said early Sunday afternoon. “But had we not been prepared, I think it would have been a lot worse.”

The mayor and other key city officials set up an emergency operations center at the Department of Public Safety, Roach said.

“We’re able to coordinate with people who need to be together,” he said. “We had everybody in one room and it worked great, and it’s still working now.”

As of 1 p.m. Sunday there were approximately 2,000 households without power, according to Roach. Five houses had to be evacuated due to flooding. An emergency shelter had been established at Post Road Elementary School, but no one had needed it yet by midday Sunday.

“We had a lot of trees or branches come down, a lot of power line involvement,” said Roach. “Flooding, tree damage and power lines are the three main impacts.”

Roach praised the city’s workers and also thanked residents for staying home and using common sense.

By noon on Sunday, restrictions on city business and on-street parking had been lifted and several of the city’s shops and restaurants had re-opened.

“Listening to the media, you’d think ‘Ah, man, we’re going to be drowning over here,’” said White Plains resident Hector Garced, enjoying lunch at one of the several Mamaroneck Avenue pizzeria’s that had reopened. “And it’s usually the case that if they hype it up, it’s not going to happen.”

Sometime after 5 p.m., Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is scheduled to hold a press conference on the storm and cleanup efforts.