Some will insist Chenango County dodged a bullet, while others will claim emergency officials and the media sensationalized the potential dangers of “superstorm” Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey coastline at approximately 8 p.m. Monday. Either way, no one can deny the billions of dollars in damage caused by the unique storm system along the east coast – particularly in New Jersey and New York City – despite the fact that municipalities up and down the Route 12 corridor escaped relatively unscathed.
According to the Chenango County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Management, the county was simply not subjected with the strong wind gusts associated elsewhere with Hurricane Sandy, while other parts of the state were pummeled by excessive rainfall, damaging winds and widespread power outages. According to nyseg.com’s Outage Central, there are approximately 160 Chenango County residents currently without power (as of press time), while other areas – namely Westchester, Sullivan and Putnam counties – are reporting tens of thousands without electricity. At times during last night’s storm, upwards of 300 were without power across the county, significantly less than expected, said emergency officials.
“We saw some pretty good peak wind gusts, although the part we were more concerned about were the sustained winds,” said City of Norwich Emergency Management Officer A. Wesley Jones. “[Sandy] didn’t quite reach this far north. Go south 100 miles from here, or less, 75 miles from here, and it’s a totally different story; Sullivan County suffered major damage.”
Sustained winds, initially expected to clock in at 30 to 40 miles per hour, instead peaked at approximately 20 miles per hour, added Jones, although areas of higher elevation did see more powerful gusts. Power outages were scattered across the county, with people reporting those peak winds at various times throughout the night.
“We certainly don’t want to see a disaster and this was the best outcome possible overall,” stated Jones. “People appeared to heed the warnings and the potential was absolutely there, but things like this are kind of like a training exercise for when the more unexpected events happen. At some point, we’ll have a winter storm come along, expecting only a few inches, and see a lot more snow than that. It goes both ways.”
A State of Emergency – issued Monday and closing county roadways from 9 p.m. through 6 a.m. today – was lifted an hour early, and all roads in Chenango County were opened at 5 a.m. Schools, however, closed yesterday as a precaution, remain so. A High Wind Advisory also remains in effect through 5 p.m.
While the worst of the storm is over, said emergency officials, people are reminded not to drive into areas of standing water. Those living near creeks, streams or drainage that is running at capacity should be ready to move at a moment’s notice, as there is still the potential for localized flooding in some areas. Also, people should assume any downed power lines are live and avoid any contact. For more information on road closures, weather and emergency alerts, visit nyalert.gov.