Crime & Safety
White Plains Declares State of Emergency
The city of White Plains is using an emergency declaration to assist with storm prep and response.
The City of White Plains has Friday night declared a state of emergency.
Issuing a press release just before 9 p.m., City officials said the state of emergency would help with emergency planning and allow them to best serve the residents in a "rapidly changing situation," with impending landfall of Hurricane Irene.
To read the full release, click here.
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The city preparations include equipment inspection, storm drain clearance and the lowering of reservoirs to help capture the expected heavy rain.
An Emergency Operations Center has been established at Public Safety headquarters and will be kept operational for as long as necessary.
Find out what's happening in White Plainswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In addition to its website, this city has put in place an emergency phone line at 914-422-5150.
The National Hurricane Center has posted hurricane warnings for all of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties.
As for the initial showers, New York City will begin to feel the extreme outer bands as early as Saturday morning, around 10 a.m.; Hartford by noon.
The steady rain will begin to arrive in New York City around midnight on Saturday, and by 2 to 3 a.m. in Hartford. Steady rain in Danbury will likey come around 1 a.m.
Tropical storm force winds, in excess of 39 mph, will arrive between 7 and 10 a.m. Sunday in New York City. It will take a bit longer to make it to Hartford, around 9 to 12 a.m. Wind gusts could get up to 95 mph.
Winds of this strength are likely to lead to power outages and could prove quite dangerous. Residents are urged to heed emergency warnings.
How are you preparing? Let us know in the comments. White Plains Patch will be launching a live blog on late Saturday or Sunday to capture everything about Irene. Be sure to check back here.
Patch contributor James Boyle contributed to this report.
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