Scarsdale Schools Closed; 170+ Trees Down

The State of Emergency called in light of dangerous conditions created by falling trees and electrical wires on Saturday, and with the remaining cleanup work yet to be done, schools will be closed today, Monday, March 15.

Mayor Carolyn Stevens contacted Patch shortly after 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning with information on road closures and emergency conditions.

"At one point we had three calls of trees hitting cars with people in them – and we were experiencing people going through tapes and barricades that had been set up to keep folks from coming into contact with wires," Mayor Carolyn Stevens wrote this morning shortly after 8 a.m. in an e-mail.

"We had our police chief and fire chief and head of public works all come in [Saturday] night. At one point it seemed like every few seconds we were having a call about a downed tree," she later explained.

"Last night we had two cars struck with passengers inside of them, and one pedestrian was hit, but nobody was injured seriously," she said.

Additionally, the Village is worried about the fate of senior citizens or those who live alone and may be cut off from contact with loved ones from the outages: She asked Scarsdale residents to check in with neighbors who they know might be in these precarious circumstances.

More than 170 trees in the Village fell down Saturday night, and over half of them took wires down as well. Two fires related to the weather were reported – one on Brewster Rd. was related to electrical fire, the other, on Overhill Rd., was caused by a candle flame.

According to Con Edison, 6,000 households in the Scarsdale postal code area were without power, and Mayor Stevens said the Village's best estimates placed 70 to 75 percent of the Village without electrical service.

Elizabeth Clark, the official spokeswoman for Con Edison said the storm was "probably the worst storm in 20 years, total."

"We have mutual aide crews coming in from Pennsylvania and Ohio to help assist us, because we had about 167,000 to 170,000 customers affected by this storm," she said yesterday.

As of 11 a.m. Sunday Mayor Stevens reported that two Con Ed trucks had reported to restore service in the Village, but both crews were called off when the lightening began shortly thereafter.

"Because of the treacherous conditions and the heavy rain and winds we have to make sure the area's safe," she said. "This is going to be a very long process, but our crews will be working around the clock until everyone is restored."

Making a long process longer, several customers and residents have been removing barricades and caution tape set up by emergency service crews, Mayor Stevens said.

"If people see tape or barricades up, please leave it in place," the mayor asked of Scarsdale residents that may be homebound. "One of the things that was most frustrating was, [Saturday] night people were taking the tape and barricades down," she said, making it more difficult for the rescue crews to do their job and identify problematic areas. 

"It's both incredibly dangerous and thoughtless. With all the streetlights out last night you wouldn't see a tree across the road until you were on top of it. And our crews were running around trying to re-tape areas. We finally go the point where we were putting some of our volunteer firemen and staff at the more serious locations, but then they're at risk of getting hurt."

• Leave all barricades and tape in place.
• Stay off the roads if at all possible – the best place to be is at home.
• If you must travel, SLOW DOWN, or as Mayor Stevens said, "Take other peoples' safety as well as your own into account," and be vigilant and deferential to road crews and the work they are doing.
• Keep flashlights on hand, and extra batteries.
• Don't open the freezer; keep use of the fridge at a minimum to preserve food.
• Turn of all lights and major appliances so that when power is restored, there isn't a power overload that blows fuses.
• Go to Coned.com through your PDA or online, or call 1 (800) 75- CONED to report outages.
• Don't go anywhere near downed wires.
• Use candles with caution (one house already caught fire after a candle incident on Saturday night).

Mayor Stevens said they didn't yet have an idea of when power would be restored, but Con Ed said it may take four or five days.

Wires must first be shut off before trees and wires can be replaced, and Scarsdale schools may be shut down tomorrow as a result.

"Stay home if you can," emphasized Mayor Stevens. "The fewer people on the roads, the easier it is to get the work done, and the less in jeopardy everybody is."

Keep reading Patch for updates, as we will be following any news breaks as this condition continues.