Putnam Outages Widespread; Residents Warned to Stay Off Roads
With more than 100 county roads closed due to downed trees and power lines, Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell reminded residents early Tuesday afternoon that the county was still under a state of emergency.
“It is imperative that motorists stay off the roadways,” Odell said in a release. “This recommendation is issued so that road crews can clear trees, poles and wires from the roadways with minimal risk to workers and citizens.”
Odell said she was meeting with NYSEG and Central Hudson officials, as well as with the supervisors of the six towns and mayors of the three village in the county. In addition, Odell said she was in phone contact with New York State officials.
Odell said that while county officials appreciated the willingness of those residents who might try to clear a roadway, she said those residents should refrain from doing so because of the hidden dangers of downed power lines.
Hurricane Sandy took a heavy toll on Putnam County, with the number of residents without power increasing steadily beginning Monday afternoon and throughout the night.
Late Monday afternoon, the number of homes without power was significant but remained relatively low, according to the outage map on the NYSEG website. But those numbers would soon skyrocket, when nearly all of the residents in some towns in Putnam County were without power on Tuesday morning.
According to NYSEG, the residents of the Town of Southeast were the least impacted, with 46 percent of households and businesses without power as of early Tuesday afternoon. In both the Town of Kent and the Town of Putnam Valley, 99 percent of customers were without power. In the Town of Patterson, 90 percent of homes and businesses did not have power.
Being the most populated town in the county, the Town of Carmel had the most severe outages, with 95 percent of customers without power; or, 13,500 out of a total 14,000 customers in town.
With so many without power, the county announced the opening of comfort stations. The locations and hours of operation for today, Tuesday, Oct. 30 are as listed below:
The Putnam Valley Senior Center and the William Koehler Senior Center. The hours of operation today are from 7 a.m. through 9 p.m.
The Town of Southeast and the Village of Brewster, in conjunction with United Cerebral Palsy, has opened a comfort station at 15 Mt. Ebo Road in Brewster. The hours of operation today are 7 a.m. through 9 p.m.
The Town of Patterson has opened a comfort station at the Patterson Recreation Center on Front Street. The hours of operation are 6: a.m. through 9 p.m.
The Town of Philipstown has opened a comfort station at the Recreation Center. The hours of operation are 8 a.m. through 4 p.m.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
