Warren County Office of Emergency Services (OES) staff spent much of the week helping to coordinate the response to widespread power outages from a late spring snowstorm that knocked out electric, phone and internet service to tens of thousands of county residents.
Northern and western parts of Warren County received more than a foot of heavy, wet snow April 18-19 that resulted in more than 17,700 National Grid customers in the county (nearly 40 percent of the utility's customers) losing power. Some were without electricity for nearly 72 hours when temperatures dropped into the 20s at night at times.
Emergency Services Director Ann Marie Mason and her staff helped coordinate distribution of dry ice (for food refrigeration) and water on Wednesday and Thursday, while Mason and Fire Coordinator Ralph Bartlett worked with fire companies and National Grid to ensure that residents in need could access these items while they were in need.
In addition, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office’s Emergency Communications Center fielded 496 calls April 18-19, (a 65% increase for the time period) most of them storm-related as they directed assistance to those in need. More than a dozen roads were closed because of downed trees or wires.
In addition, the OES and Buildings & Grounds staffs coordinated a donation of two pallets of bottled water from JUST Beverages on Thursday, which supplemented the supplies from National Grid. These were distributed to residents as well.
We thank our community partners for their generosity!
“We were proud to be part of a team that helped our residents get through the impact of this dangerous storm, and we thank our first responders and partners from National Grid for all they did during this difficult time,” Ann Marie Mason explained.
Said Kevin Geraghty, Chairman of the Warren County Board of Supervisors: “Our Office of Emergency Services staff and first responders train often to respond to emergency situations like this, and through teamwork that involved numerous partners in the public and private sector, we are happy to report no one was injured and the power is back on.”