| Watershed Post

With power outages still widespread, Ulster County closes last remaining shelter

Above: A tree fallen onto power lines on Route 212 in Woodstock on Tuesday. Photo from the Town of Woodstock's Facebook page.

The emergency shelter at Belleayre -- the only one still operating in Ulster County as of Wednesday -- sent its last few occupants home and closed down at 4pm.

Ulster County director of emergency communications Art Snyder said that only four people stayed overnight at Belleayre last night. All of them were taken back to their homes this afternoon.

"Each of the shelters spoke with the people that had stayed there to ensure that those people were not interested in coming back to the shelter again," Snyder said.

Ulster County residents may not be clamoring for a cot at Belleayre, but with temperatures dropping and widespread power outages expected to continue into the weekend, the emergency is far from over for many people.

Rich Muellerleile, captain of the Shandaken Ambulance Service, said that the medical calls his department is fielding are on the rise.

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Neversink update: Power still out, but there's wifi, hot showers and pizza

Above: Farm tractor powering generator at the rear of Eureka Market & Cafe, on loan from nearby Catskill Mountain Sugar House, one of the largest maple syrup producers in the state. Photo by Jennifer Grimes.

Dry ice will be available for the towns of Neversink, Grahamsville and Denning at the Neversink Fire Department beginning at 4pm.

Jennifer Grimes of the Eureka Café in Grahamsville reports that there’s “good news” in the Town of Neversink. Alliant Energy company trucks all the way from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin have arrived on the scene, working to return power.

“There are swarms of them around now,” reports Grimes, “They’re making repairs in the Town of Neversink as we speak. That’s all we know, because nobody will make a prediction. But everybody’s eager for power to return.”

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Sullivan County Hurricane Sandy reports

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Dry ice locations in the Catskills today

Here's a list of dry ice locations in the Catskills today, compiled from Central Hudson's dry ice page, NYSEG's dry ice page, town websites, and our calls to several locations. Call if you can before you drive to make sure dry ice is there. We've provided phone numbers where we can find them.

Ulster County:

Update: A new dry ice distribution point in Neversink has been added.

Update: Dry ice will NOT be available at the Big Indian/Oliverea Fire Department as announced earlier, according to a statement from Shandaken police sent around 2pm.

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Olive after Sandy: Some power is out, but Halloween is on

This just in from the Town of Olive: The phones don't work at Town Hall, so the town is using the cell phone of Susan Horner, the secretary to town supervisor Berndt Leifeld, as its information line. You can call Horner at 845-657-9639.

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All roads open in Shandaken; power may come on as early as this afternoon

Power is still out in many Shandaken neighborhoods, according to Joyce Grant, Shandaken's town clerk, who just called us with an update. NYSEG crews are working to replace poles and the town hopes to see the electricity on again this afternoon, Grant said.

Phoenicia, Chichester, Silver Hollow, Woodland Valley, and Big Indian all still have outages.

Power is back on at the Shandaken Town Hall at 7209 Rte. 28, and residents are invited to charge their electronic devices and use the free wireless internet available there today. Town Hall also has a Verizon cell phone extender, so your Verizon devices will work there as well, Grant said.

NSYEG will be delivering dry ice and water to the Phoenicia Fire House today around noon, Grant said. You can call the fire house to check on its arrival at 845-688-7315.

All the roads in the town of Shandaken are cleared, Grant said. Belleayre Mountain Ski Center is still open as a shelter.

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Shandaken storm report from the Daily Freeman

Intrepid Daily Freeman reporter Tania Barricklo in Shokan filed this thorough report about how Shandaken fared during Sandy yesterday. Freeman editor Ivan Lajara posted it to the Freeman's live Sandy blog, and you can watch it above.

Barricklo interviewd Tom Tar, the actiing general manager of Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, which is operating an emergency shelter. Tar told Barricklo that Belleayre will be open until Shandaken Town Supervisor Rob Stanley tells them they are no longer needed:

"We're going to stay available until we hear from the supervisor," Tar says in the video.

Barricklo also visited damaged sites around Shandaken, including a site of downed electrical wires at Winchell's Corners in Olive that closed Rte. 28 to traffic until yesterday afternoon. (Rte. 28 at Winchell's Corners is now re-open.) Barricklo also visited the Pine Hill wastewater treatment plant, which had a large downed tree smash part of its fence.

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Route 28 in Olive reopens

Route 28 in Shokan near Winchell's Corners reopened this afternoon, after being shut down during Monday night's storm.

We got the news via a tweet from the office of Ulster County executive Mike Hein, who has become quite a social media maven during Sandy. (Welcome to Twitter, Mike.)

@watershedpostRoute 28 is now open. #dfstorm

— Executive Mike Hein (@HeinExec) October 30, 2012

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Athens pumps out from tidal flooding -- and prepares for Round Two

Above: Flooding on Water Street in Athens. Photo by Lila Lobdell. Reproduced by permission.

The swollen Hudson River poured into the Greene County waterfront village of Athens at high tide in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, prompting evacuations along Water Street and flooding homes and businesses.

About eight Water Street homes were evacuated, said assistant fire chief Adam Greco. A few people refused to evacuate. Residents are back in their houses now, he said, but basements are still being pumped out.

Riverside Park sustained some damage in the floods, and several restaurants -- including the Riverside Cafe and Dionysos -- were flooded. The Stewart House, which was damaged in Irene and underwent extensive renovations, also sustained some flooding.

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Sandy pummels Liberty; DPW superintendent says storm is worst in 20 years

Above: 95 Dwyer Ave. in Liberty, New York after the storm. Photo by Angela Page.

The storm that Hurricane Sandy became when it made landfall last night hit the village of Liberty especially hard.

High winds and heavy rains plunged Liberty into darkness, ripped bricks off the front of a building on Main Street, and blocked over a dozen streets with downed trees and electrical wires.

A four-block stretch of Dwyer Avenue was especially hard-hit, with houses and cars crushed by falling trees and surrounded by splintered telephone poles.

"This really is the first storm I've seen with so many trees on top of houses, on top of cars, across the roads, torn down lines, snapped poles," said Peter Parks, the superintendent of Village of Liberty Department of Public Works, who has worked for the village for 20 years.

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Schoharie County update: Shelter closing at Middleburgh School

Although a few roads remain closed in Schoharie County, the region was spared much of Sandy's wrath. The county Emergency Management Office reports that a shelter set up at the Middleburgh Elementary School will close at noon on Tuesday.

Roads that are still closed, as of 9:30am:

Havrish Road and Porter Road in the town of Jefferson
Patria Road in the town of Fulton

An earlier high wind warning for the region has been cancelled, although a wind advisory is still in effect throughout Schoharie County and most of the Catskills region until 6pm, with winds of 31 to 39 mph and gusts of 46 to 57 mph expected.

The county is posting periodic updates to a Sandy information page.

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