FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jim Reardon

845-876-7015

10/30/2012

Hurricane Sandy Update

Mayor Jim Reardon is pleased to announce that the Village of Rhinebeck was very fortunate and experienced very minor impact from Hurricane Sandy. Reardon states “there was approximately 1/3 inch of rain recorded at the Village Wastewater Treatment plant which resulted in no flooding issues and even though the winds were quite gusty there were no downed trees. There was a significant tidal surge from the Hudson River which made Slate Dock Road which leads to the Water Treatment Plant impassable and personnel had to park uphill and walk through the woods to reach the plant. Also due to power outage the Plant has been operating on standby generator”.

“This morning I participated in a conference call with the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Management and the consensus was that we were very fortunate and did not experience the full effects of the storm. Also this afternoon I participated in a conference call with Central Hudson and they report that currently there are 15,000 customers without power in Dutchess County and that includes approximately 600 customers in the Rhinebeck/Rhinecliff area without power. They expect that crews will be fully assigned to the Rhinebeck/Rhinecliff area tomorrow and restoration efforts will begin”. They cannot specify an exact time when all power will be restored due to what the damage entails but once here will work until it is restored..

As tomorrow is Halloween Reardon states “people need to use extreme caution as there are power lines down and trees that suffered damage. There is a high danger potential associated with this and parents and trick or treaters should use extreme caution. In particular there can be branches that are broken and hung up in trees that may fall”. In closing Reardon states “I would like to thank everyone at The Rhinebeck Fire Department, Police Department, Highway Department, Water Department, Wastewater Department and the Village Hall staff for their hard work in preparation before, and during and after this storm. I would also like to thank the folks at Dutchess County and Central Hudsonfor the great job they did keeping us informed”.