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Snow storm follows ice emergency
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| Gearing up Robert Ragaini/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers Wayne Carl checks the connections on his Columbia County Highway Department snowplow as he and fellow drivers geared up for the impending snowstorm Friday morning. Carl's efforts were not in vain as the storm hit around noon and pummeled the area with snow. |
By John Mason
COLUMBIA COUNTY — The county was still in the process of picking itself up from the ice storm that knocked it flat last week when it got socked by the season’s first major snowstorm Friday.
Cars were sliding in unaccustomed directions, and sidewalks and roadways were merging under well-padded blankets.
At 3:49 p.m., a tractor-trailer was reported off the road at Turnpike Inn on Route 66 in Ghent, with cars backed up behind it. Several calls came in about cars having trouble with the slippery slopes of Mount Merino and Columbiaville, and there was also a tie-up at Healy Boulevard.
But the snow, at least, was not wet, and it was not quite as deep as had been forecast.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, said the county’s snow emergency would remain in effect until Monday morning, meaning driving should be kept to a minimum.
In Hudson, Mayor Rick Scalera called a snow emergency effective 8 p.m. Friday. This meant cars were to park on the even-numbered sides of the streets from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Saturday, then move to the odd side until 8 p.m. Sunday.
“At no time during the snow emergency will cars be allowed to park on both sides of any street,” said DPW Senior Account Clerk Melissa Finn. She also urged residents to listen to radio and television to see if the snow emergency would be extended.
“Our plan is to go full force through 11 p.m. [Friday],” she said, “then bring in the reserves for the remainder of the evening.” The “reserves” are employees from other DPW departments such as water and sewer. “The main troops resume at 5 a.m. Saturday. We have every piece of equipment operating: plows, salt trucks — the full fleet, with most of our crew working on it.”
County Public Works Superintendent David Robinson was happy to report the snow wasn’t carrying a lot of moisture. At about 4 p.m. Friday, the county snow plows and sanders were going out for their second runs of the day.
There are a total of 29 or 30 runs on the county roads, he said, each of them taking between 2 1/2 and 3 hours.
Robinson said he’d have the county trucks cleaning up roads on Saturday morning, so he requested that motorists keep morning travel to a minimum.
“By noon, everything should be in good shape,” he said. “If you do drive, be careful of the intersections: They’ll have quite a bit of snow built up, so be careful going through.”
Meteorologist Joe Villani of the National Weather Service said the storm would probably end up on the lower end of the 6 to 12 inches that were predicted. He was expecting the snow to taper off by midnight Friday. This storm was the result of a low pressure system that moved from the Midwest to Pennsylvania and out to the Jersey Coast.
Sunday’s storm, he said, could bring another 7 to 10 inches. That one is the result of the convergence of one storm system from the Mid-Atlantic region and another from the Great Lakes. Villani said he expects Sunday’s snow could have a little more moisture content, but said he does not expect a heavy, wet snow.
On Thursday, President Bush declared some counties eligible for federal disaster relief as a result of the ice storm.
“Under the language right now, Columbia County would not be eligible,” Baer said. “The language does not allow us to get reimbursement for costs that we’ve already incurred.”
He said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and people from the State Emergency Management Office are working to get the wording changed.
“They have to provide the support,” Baer said. “This is very important — we’re working very hard. FEMA and the Governor’s Office will be here Monday morning. Hopefully we’ll get them to modify the wording.”
He said he hadn’t heard of any problems plowing due to the debris from the ice storm.
“The highway crews have been doing a phenomenal job getting the brush pushed back from the road,” Baer said. “We will have problems getting rid of the stuff once the snow melts. We’re looking at incurring the additional expense for removing, chipping and disposing of it.”
Baer said he was happy with the way the county responded to the ice storm crisis.
“Through this thing, everybody worked together,” he said. “The fact that no one died or was seriously injured is really a testimony to how well our emergency services functioned. This is probably the biggest crisis the county has faced since the 1987 storm.
“Overall, I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the performance of the people in our county,” he said. “These people really worked exceptionally hard. I saw how everything was working at the Emergency Operations Center. It was a well-organized operation.”
He also praised the work and coordination of the volunteers at the various shelters that were set up, that provided not only food and shelter, but dry ice and water to many residents.
Board of Supervisors Minority Leader Doug McGivney, D-Kinderhook, said the Kinderhook Village firefighters were tired from fighting fires and clearing roadways, but they still managed to get generators going at the Village Hall and Firehouse and created a shelter, where steak was served, compliments of Hannafords, the first night.
Baer said he and Robinson visited the Taghkanic shelter at the Taghkanic Firehouse and were impressed by the positive attitude of the people working there. It was the longest-lived shelter, because the area it serves was one of the hardest hit.
“That shelter served dozens of people for meals and warming,” he said. “Through the whole crisis, it was probably the most used and utilized shelter in the county.”
Brianna DeLuke of the village said she, her mom, Amy, and dad, Tom, and three younger siblings, Tommy, Caitlin and Sophia, all spent Saturday and Sunday at the Ichabod Crane shelter.
She and her parents slept on cots, and the younger kids, ages 5 to 10, slept on mattresses on the floor, all provided by the Red Cross.
“It was like a big sleepover,” she said. There were DVDs, board games, and the food, which was put out on big buffet tables, “was fantastic.”
DeLuke, who works as a waitress at a well-known chain restaurant on I-90, said the restaurant was hopping all hours of the day, between the National Grid, NYSEG and tree service workers, and the folks come to seek a refuge from their loss of power.
“Our gift shops were packed because there were 20-to-30-minute waits all day,” she said. “I was sure I was going to see a lot of grouchy people, but they were fine.”
To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.
Cars were sliding in unaccustomed directions, and sidewalks and roadways were merging under well-padded blankets.
At 3:49 p.m., a tractor-trailer was reported off the road at Turnpike Inn on Route 66 in Ghent, with cars backed up behind it. Several calls came in about cars having trouble with the slippery slopes of Mount Merino and Columbiaville, and there was also a tie-up at Healy Boulevard.
But the snow, at least, was not wet, and it was not quite as deep as had been forecast.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, said the county’s snow emergency would remain in effect until Monday morning, meaning driving should be kept to a minimum.
In Hudson, Mayor Rick Scalera called a snow emergency effective 8 p.m. Friday. This meant cars were to park on the even-numbered sides of the streets from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 p.m. Saturday, then move to the odd side until 8 p.m. Sunday.
“At no time during the snow emergency will cars be allowed to park on both sides of any street,” said DPW Senior Account Clerk Melissa Finn. She also urged residents to listen to radio and television to see if the snow emergency would be extended.
“Our plan is to go full force through 11 p.m. [Friday],” she said, “then bring in the reserves for the remainder of the evening.” The “reserves” are employees from other DPW departments such as water and sewer. “The main troops resume at 5 a.m. Saturday. We have every piece of equipment operating: plows, salt trucks — the full fleet, with most of our crew working on it.”
County Public Works Superintendent David Robinson was happy to report the snow wasn’t carrying a lot of moisture. At about 4 p.m. Friday, the county snow plows and sanders were going out for their second runs of the day.
There are a total of 29 or 30 runs on the county roads, he said, each of them taking between 2 1/2 and 3 hours.
Robinson said he’d have the county trucks cleaning up roads on Saturday morning, so he requested that motorists keep morning travel to a minimum.
“By noon, everything should be in good shape,” he said. “If you do drive, be careful of the intersections: They’ll have quite a bit of snow built up, so be careful going through.”
Meteorologist Joe Villani of the National Weather Service said the storm would probably end up on the lower end of the 6 to 12 inches that were predicted. He was expecting the snow to taper off by midnight Friday. This storm was the result of a low pressure system that moved from the Midwest to Pennsylvania and out to the Jersey Coast.
Sunday’s storm, he said, could bring another 7 to 10 inches. That one is the result of the convergence of one storm system from the Mid-Atlantic region and another from the Great Lakes. Villani said he expects Sunday’s snow could have a little more moisture content, but said he does not expect a heavy, wet snow.
On Thursday, President Bush declared some counties eligible for federal disaster relief as a result of the ice storm.
“Under the language right now, Columbia County would not be eligible,” Baer said. “The language does not allow us to get reimbursement for costs that we’ve already incurred.”
He said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and people from the State Emergency Management Office are working to get the wording changed.
“They have to provide the support,” Baer said. “This is very important — we’re working very hard. FEMA and the Governor’s Office will be here Monday morning. Hopefully we’ll get them to modify the wording.”
He said he hadn’t heard of any problems plowing due to the debris from the ice storm.
“The highway crews have been doing a phenomenal job getting the brush pushed back from the road,” Baer said. “We will have problems getting rid of the stuff once the snow melts. We’re looking at incurring the additional expense for removing, chipping and disposing of it.”
Baer said he was happy with the way the county responded to the ice storm crisis.
“Through this thing, everybody worked together,” he said. “The fact that no one died or was seriously injured is really a testimony to how well our emergency services functioned. This is probably the biggest crisis the county has faced since the 1987 storm.
“Overall, I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the performance of the people in our county,” he said. “These people really worked exceptionally hard. I saw how everything was working at the Emergency Operations Center. It was a well-organized operation.”
He also praised the work and coordination of the volunteers at the various shelters that were set up, that provided not only food and shelter, but dry ice and water to many residents.
Board of Supervisors Minority Leader Doug McGivney, D-Kinderhook, said the Kinderhook Village firefighters were tired from fighting fires and clearing roadways, but they still managed to get generators going at the Village Hall and Firehouse and created a shelter, where steak was served, compliments of Hannafords, the first night.
Baer said he and Robinson visited the Taghkanic shelter at the Taghkanic Firehouse and were impressed by the positive attitude of the people working there. It was the longest-lived shelter, because the area it serves was one of the hardest hit.
“That shelter served dozens of people for meals and warming,” he said. “Through the whole crisis, it was probably the most used and utilized shelter in the county.”
Brianna DeLuke of the village said she, her mom, Amy, and dad, Tom, and three younger siblings, Tommy, Caitlin and Sophia, all spent Saturday and Sunday at the Ichabod Crane shelter.
She and her parents slept on cots, and the younger kids, ages 5 to 10, slept on mattresses on the floor, all provided by the Red Cross.
“It was like a big sleepover,” she said. There were DVDs, board games, and the food, which was put out on big buffet tables, “was fantastic.”
DeLuke, who works as a waitress at a well-known chain restaurant on I-90, said the restaurant was hopping all hours of the day, between the National Grid, NYSEG and tree service workers, and the folks come to seek a refuge from their loss of power.
“Our gift shops were packed because there were 20-to-30-minute waits all day,” she said. “I was sure I was going to see a lot of grouchy people, but they were fine.”
To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.
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