At a press conference Monday, Central Hudson President Joe Laurito said because of the flooding, the utility will inspect all of the natural gas lines and regulator stations in the area, particularly the ones at river crossings and washed-out roadways.
Flooded farms, trashed roads
Besides roads, bridges, homes and cars, farms have also been slammed, dealing a gut-punch to a $500 million sector of the country economy. Hein said he’s getting help from U.S. senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to get an agricultural disaster area declaration for Ulster. “We are seeing widespread devastation” to farms, Hein said, noting that he saw flooded farms all along the Wallkill River corridor during an aerial inspection of damage on Tuesday.
Hinchey said he is pushing for a visit for U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to take a personal look at the situation.
John Kouhout, field operations manager for the county DPW, said officials are still trying to get a grip on how much damage the waters have done. As the waters recede, Kouhout said, inspectors will be able to get under bridges and get a better idea, but so far, it ain’t pretty — seven county bridges and five “pretty good-sized” box culverts are impassible, and roads have suffered “massive” shoulder damage and undermining. “It’s so imperative that people realize that the roads can be traveled, but they need to be very very careful on the shoulders,” Kouhout said.
Kouhout added there are places they haven’t been able to get to yet, so the damage estimate remains clouded, and information still has to come in from municipalities. “This is going to be a weeks-long process,” Hein said.
Tea party problem?
Looming as a potential monkey wrench which could be thrown into the works of Ulster’s recovery, Hein and Hinchey said, is the possibility that House Republicans might block adding to FEMA’s coffers. The disaster fund is down to $800 million, and a fight similar to recent ones over the debt ceiling and Federal Aviation Administration Funding may be in the offing, with Republicans indicating they would not OK more FEMA money unless cuts are made elsewhere in the budget. All at the conference agreed that that would be unacceptable. “This is not politics, this is humanitarian,” said Larkin.
“The U.S. Congress has never held up resources needed [in the wake of a natural disaster] and they shouldn’t do so now,” Hinchey said. “We need to overcome these Tea Party operations down there in Washington to get this situation straight.”
Hinchey was in the same boat as a lot of Ulsterites — he’s been without power since last Sunday. He pledged to do everything he could to help, including calling in personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assess infrastructure damage and make recommendations for rebuilding and seeking an “emergency supplemental appropriations bill” to help Irene’s victims when he gets back to D.C. next week. “It’s absolutely, critically, important” to get that bill passed, Hinchey said.
With additional reporting by Carrie Jones Ross, Crispin Kott and Hugh Reynolds
