Storm tested Island’s emergency response
PSEG workers were hustling on South Ferry Road shortly after 9 a.m. August 4 to untangle broken tree limbs from downed wires to repair a major break just north of Heritage Drive.
The first major storm of the hurricane season may have arrived with little fanfare, but its fury was enough to give Shelter Island first responders a test of systems in place to deal with emergencies.
Firefighters, police officers, Highway Department workers and a PSEG crew were able to respond rapidly to power outages and debris cleanup following the approximately hour-long storm that packed heavy rains and high winds the morning of August 4.
It wasn’t as powerful, or long lasting, enough to qualify as a named storm, but that didn’t make those affected by its wrath any more comfortable. And although most Islanders lost power for relatively short periods, some were in the dark for a few days.
What’s more, in order to enable highway crews to cut broken tree limbs, power had to be shut down for short periods of time during the several days that followed the storm.
But it was a good test of new generators in government buildings in the Center. Most passed muster, according to Town Engineer John Cronin. Last year, Mr. Cronin, Public Works Commissioner Jay Card Jr. and Emergency Services Coordinator and Police Chief Jim Read filed a grant request with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help fund the generators.
One older generator was moved from the Justice Court to the American Legion building, while the court building, police headquarters and Town Hall got new generators. Only the older generator at the Legion hasn’t been installed, while the others are up and running, Chief Read said.
The need to keep the government operating at a time when the public would need services and expect answers became obvious during Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, the chief said. The inability to communicate and to operate basic systems in the government buildings was a major hindrance, he added.
FEMA contributed 75 percent of the approximate $113,000 needed for the generator project and the check arrived just before this month’s storm hit. As is typical with federal and state projects, the money most be laid out by the town and then await reimbursement. To qualify, major filings must be sent to FEMA to show what has been spent.
The one glitch Chief Read knew about in advance of last week’s storm — the phone connection to a battery-operated box provided by Verizon has been troublesome. The chief has been negotiating with Verizon to allow a connection to the generator, something the phone system provider doesn’t want to do.
The batteries are “suspect at best,” the chief said, noting he continues to talk to Verizon officials about the telephone problem to ensure calls can be made and received at the Police Department.
One question posed in the aftermath of the storm by resident Howard Johansen at last week’s Town Board work session was why CodeRed — a web-based emergency notification service system for residents — wasn’t used last week before during or after the storm. Chief Read said he didn’t want to overuse the system that has been activated only a couple of times since it was implemented. But if outages had been more lengthy, CodeRed would have been used.
