An ice storm that pummeled a multi-state area left the Capital District in disarray on Friday, Dec. 12, hitting areas of Saratoga County especially hard and leaving thousands without power or heat for days.
As Spotlight Newspapers goes to press, most areas have recovered from the worst of the damage and cleanup efforts have begun in earnest. A few thousand are without power, down from 229,000 National Grid-serviced businesses and homes that lost electricity during the peak outages. (New York State Electric and Gas reported 34,000 peak outages.)
For many across the region, the storm, which began the night of Thursday, Dec. 11, forced a very different way of life.
Four states declared states of emergencytwo full and two, including New York, partial. In addition, the towns of Clifton Park, Halfmoon and Stillwater all declared their own states of emergency early on Friday. Damage in those areas of southern Saratoga County was especially intense.
I’d never seen anything like it in a long, long time,` said Clifton Park Supervisor Philip Barrett, who likened navigating the blocked roads in his town to running a `serpentine course` early Friday.
Barrett and other town workers manned phones at Town Hall throughout the disaster.
`In a situation like this, you want to reach out and talk to somebody and get an answer,` he said.
The town opened up its buildings as warming centers and a Red Cross shelter was soon established at the Shenendehowa Senior Center. Nearby Gowana Middle School opened on Saturday, providing additional cots for those forced out of their darkened homes.
The American Red Cross, Adirondack Saratoga Chapter, ultimately opened four shelters in southern Saratoga County and three in Washington County. All were closed by Wednesday morning. Preliminary numbers from the Red Cross indicated that more than 200 individuals took advantage of the shelters, though not all stayed overnight, and more than 300 meals were served.
`The clients got food, drinks, a place to sleep and what we call a comfort kit` with items like a toothbrush and toothpaste, said Cheryl Murphy, director of emergency services for the Red Cross chapter.
The Red Cross was also on the scene in Halfmoon, neighbor to Clifton Park and another hard-hit town. Town Hall was home to 57 people on Friday night.
Though not all municipalities declared emergencies, all were affected.
The Town of Ballston opened its town hall as a warming center, and saw many residents from the 1,850 homes that lost power take advantage of it. Many homes in the rural town rely on wells that don’t work without electricity.
`It was great to see the community coming together and helping each other,` said Supervisor Patti Southworth. She said the town’s highway and fire departments performed admirably during the disaster, and that the emergency preparedness committee will be reviewing the weekend’s events at their January meeting.
`I think we did fine, but we’ll do even better next time,` said Southworth.
A snow emergency was declared early on Friday in the city of Saratoga Springs. Except on streets designated for alternate side parking, vehicles standing for more than 12 hours were subject to towing.
The Town of Malta opened the David R. Meager Community Center as a warming shelter for those without the benefit of heat.
Schools across the area were closed on Friday due to lack of power and heat and because of dangerous conditions, but problems persisted after the weekend at a few locations. Malta Avenue Elementary School in the Ballston Spa School District was closed on Monday due to a lack of heat and students were dispersed to the district’s three other elementary schools.
Classes on Monday, Dec. 15, were cancelled at the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Middle School when problems in the heating system meant that returned power didn’t keep the school warm. School was back in session on Tuesday.
The storm brokered cooperation between neighbors across the area, and not just on the small scale.
The BH-BL School District received a helping hand from Bethlehem Central School District with posts to the Web site. No one in the BH-BL network had the proper combination of power, Internet service and software to post school closing updates on the Web, so officials at Bethlehem made posts that were phoned in.
Cleanup in the Town of Halfmoon is currently being assisted by crews and equipment from five other municipalities: Moreau, Milton, Wilton, Galway and Greenfield.
`I’m not sure if we would be in as good of a situation as we’re in now if it wasn’t for their help,` said Halfmoon Supervisor Mindy Wormuth at a county board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Still, the town’s cleanup efforts are expected to take days, if not weeks.
`It’s rather daunting, even with these additional crews in here,` said Nelson Ronsvalle, Halfmoon spokesman.
Transfer stations are in service at many towns and some are offering extended hours for residents who prefer to bring in their own debris. Otherwise, residents of most municipalities are advised to place fallen branches along the roadside.
`Obviously it’s a huge job,` said Barrett of the cleanup efforts in Clifton Park. With more winter weather in the weekend’s forecast, though, the area might not have completely weathered the storm.
`My biggest fear is that with some of this weather we’re having people are going to lose [power] again,` he said.
Uninsured losses
Though most home insurance will cover damage from falling branches or trees, and even some cleanup costs, there are resources available for those without insurance who suffered losses as a result of the storm. Below are telephone numbers and web addresses of agencies that offer disaster assistance.
American Red Cross (Adirondack Chapter), 792-6545,
www.redcross.org/index.html, click on Disaster Services.
Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), (800) 621-3362, www.fema.gov/hazard/index.shtm.
New York State Emergency Management Office (SEMO), 292-2293, www.semo.state.ny.us/.
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), (800) 659-2955,
www.sba.gov/, click on Disaster Assistance.“