Posted on 02/26/2010 12:29:16 PM PST by Impala64ssa
The mid-Hudson region took an unprecedented beating at the hands of a second slow-moving winter storm that dumped up to 50 inches of snow on some communities while causing power outages that hit new, painful records for Central Hudson Gas & Electric Company customers.
The heavy snow, which is predicted to continue falling through much of today, sent trees and power lines crashing Thursday night, just as exhausted repair crews were hoping they'd turned a corner in their battle with the downed and disabled lines.
Homes that were the most reliant on electricity, such as homes with water wells powered by electric pumps, suffered the most in the storm. For thousands of people, that meant relying on family, friends and neighbors for water or in many cases, a place to sleep.
Related Stories Winter storm impairs travel across windy NortheastNY power outages spread from 2nd storm, top 200,000UPDATED READER PHOTOS: From this week's massive snow stormsREADER REACTION: Tell us about yesterday's commute homeREADER REPORTS: Snow totals and conditionsUPDATED PHOTOS: TH-R photos from the stormCLOSINGS & DELAYS: Latest list as of 7 a.m.Huge Eastern storm darkens homes, disrupts travelUp to 12 inches of snow in forecast todayI-84 closed between Exit 6 at Newburgh to Exit 18 Sullivan County extends state of emergency until 5 p.m.Eastern Ulster and Dutchess spared from the heavy snowOrange County extends state of emergency until tomorrow morningFallsburg under state of emergency until noon NYC mayor: Worst snow `in a decade' There was little promise of immediate power restoration from Central Hudson, which has requested 100 additional repair crews from outside the region but still believes many of 150,000 customers without power won't be back online until after the weekend.
In Orange County, the town and city of Newburgh were hardest hit. In Ulster County, the northern and western parts of the county -- with communities such as Shandaken reporting as much as four feet of snow -- suffered the most outages.
The Ulster County Chapter of the American Red Cross added a fourth public shelter at Belleayre Mountain in Shandaken. Nine individuals made use of the shelter at the Kerhonkson Fire House overnight Thursday.
The heavy snow also had a paralyzing effect on traffic, businesses and schools in the region. Most, but not all public schools were closed. Sections of the New York State Thruway and Interstate 84 were closed Friday morning. SUNY New Paltz cancelled classes for a second straight day.
Many hardware stores -- including the giant chains -- ran out of portable generators by Friday morning, with more shipments being promised.
No serious injuries were reported Friday morning, although several Monticello adults and children had to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty space heater.
In Sullivan County, a spokesman for the county DPW said that despite drifts of up to five feet, the county had fared better than he expected because motorists stayed home Friday.
Reporters Adam Bosch, Steve Israel, Mike Randall Steve Sacco and Tim Malcolm contributed to this story.
Just like the good old days — sixty years ago.
Snow ping!
Do you have 50” of snow?
I can't imagine anyone not having a manual pump for such emergencies. Maybe they could melt a few buckets of snow, there might be some water there.
Orange County, the town and city of Newburgh. American Chopper country
I can't imagine anyone not having a manual pump for such emergencies. Maybe they could melt a few buckets of snow, there might be some water there.
Not Darks but there are about 30 inches. Darks is at work. He just got the car out.
Anybody who has lived in the country knows that you fill clean containers with water BEFORE the any storm whether it be a blizzard or thunder storm.
Newburgh, which volunteered to host the terrorist civilian trials. The jokes keep coming.
Try a bucket shower, it works. You have 5 gallons giving you plenty of water to shower and shave. Remove the snow from your yard and melt it.
Man up.
Also home of the Neptune Diner, the best place for a man sized breakfast. Just off of the interstate.
Erm yea, thanks.
We got hammered pretty good.
The sun is out for now.
I’m still waiting to get plowed out.
I figured you’d want to share stories... LOL.
Another claim to fame, David Reutimann’s father Buzzie raced at the OC Fair Speedway many yrs. ago. And Gen. Petraeus grew up right near West point.
I hope he makes it safely!
He got there ok. His boss had been on duty 24 hours. The other 2 guys never showed up. Today is Darks day off and he lives the farthest away. But HE got there. Now he doesn’t know when he’ll be relieved. He tried to get in last night but got stuck in the drive. Digging out at midnight in a blizzard was exciting! He didn’t make it last night. lol
Nah..i’m cranky right now.
The 50 inches is not from a single storm, but the combined total of the two storms over four days. Still a lot of snow, however.
Thankfully we had above freezing temps during most of the snowfall, so what we got compacted into a wet sloppy mess.
Thursday night I got stuck in the driveway.
The driveway simply blocked up with snow.
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