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Politics & Government

White Plains After Irene

Some are still without power, while others are cleaning up after Sunday's hurricane.

For the people of White Plains the consensus is in: Irene was bad, but could have been worse.

“The power's still out,” said Rose Young, 52, of White Plains. “Me and my husband stayed home, and did nothing [during the storm]. A lot of tree branches fell, but there was no real damage.”

The City focused on working with Con Edison to restore power and remove downed trees Monday, after 2,800 White Plains homes lost power during the height of Hurricane Irene's wrath on Sunday.

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"The City of White Plains is doing everything possible to assist Con Edison in their efforts," said the City's website. "However, due to the scale of the outages throughout the region, restoration of service may be delayed."

According to the mayor’s office, 390 homes were still without power late Monday afternoon. Con Edison’s outage map shows 846 without power with a restoration time of 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1. Con Edison did not return calls to White Plains Patch.

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Click here for the American Red Cross' power outage tips. Those who still don’t have power can call the White Plains Department of Public Safety's non-emergency number at 914.422.6111 for non-life threatening assistance. Click for a list of locations where Con Edison is distributing dry ice in Westchester.

"I commend the City agencies that worked around the clock over the weekend and continue to work to address all the issues as a consequence of the storm," said Mayor Tom Roach. "We were able to use technology to get the message out to our residents via our website, government channel, our new robo-call notify system and the call-in informational line."

White Plains declared a state of emergency around 9 p.m. on Friday, banned on-street parking and required local establishments to shut down at 9 p.m. Overnight parking was made free at certain City garages until 7 a.m. on Monday.

“The City's coordinated response from the Emergency Operations Center was quick, robust and appropriate for the weather we experienced,” said Roach. “I thank the public for cooperating with our efforts, because it helped our first responders to move through the city quickly, safely and without interference."

According to the mayor’s office, most establishments faired well through the storm and resumed business early Sunday evening. All City buildings are open under normal business hours. The City also opened an emergency shelter at Post Road Elementary School on Saturday and Sunday for residents, though no one showed.

“It was run very well,” said Robert Dell’Orletta, 52, a White Plains resident and custodian at Post Road Elementary School. “We had the salvation army here, the fire department, auxiliary police, [even] the mayor visited.” 

In addition to power outages, the storm caused many trees and branches to fall, as well as flooding. The seasonal leaf blower ban has been temporarily lifted due to the storm, those noise and other related ordinances are in effect. Refuse and brush pick up are running on a normal schedule.

Jen Walsh, a Soundview neighborhood resident, had large branches decorating her front lawn on Sunday night.

“The storm did this,” said the 42-year-old. “We were lucky because we maintain this tree, and it could have been worse. We just had a little water in the basement, but we've had worse flooding in the past.”

Some, however, weren’t as lucky Walsh. There were about five homes evacuated on Cloverdale Road due to flooding, which also occurred in various other areas of White Plains.

Dan Seidel, a 55-year-old Hotel Drive resident, said his 1927 home got about a foot of water, while his neighbor had three. The water—which was overflowing from sinks in his basement—destroyed his clothes dryer, and gas hot water heater, as well as caused wallboard damage. He estimated the damage at between $15,000 to $20,000, $10,000 of which he will pay as an insurance deductible.

Seidel says he and his neighbors started getting flooded in 2007 whenever 2-3 inches of water fall within in a few hours. He says the pipes and storm drains in the area are too old and overburdened, and that the City should be making upgrades to the infrastructure.

“I started pumps [to remove the water] at 8 a.m. and was finished at 2:30 p.m.,” said Seidel. “Now I am drying the basement and airing out the house. Great mildew smell, I'd rather skunk.”

Click here for tips from the Red Cross on how to tackle flooding in your home. 

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