Most of Bedford Remains Powerless

By noon Sunday Bedford town officials had logged 14 pages of calls reporting more than 100 trees down and live wires all over local roads.

"I can't emphasize enough how people should stay away from standing water, live wires and downed trees," said Bedford Supervisor, Lee Roberts. She was working from town hall, where power was restored mid-day. Strong evening winds spurred the town to extend its state of emergency until 9 p.m. Sunday.

Live wires were the cause ofn attempting to help his neighbors Sunday morning.

An afternoon conference call between area town supervisors and NYSEG offered no relief—officials could not give estimates about when power would be restored to residents.

"They said it could be days, possibly even weeks, for full restoration," said Roberts. NYSEG did not begin any repairs Sunday, only assessments of the damage. 

The town's state of emergency is still in effect, said Town Clerk Lisbeth Fumagalli. Bedford police issued alerts via its Nixle service to warn all non-emergency vehicles should stay off the roads.

The problem was, so many residents were without power—over 80 percent of the town, by mid-day—that no one could receive the alerts on their computers. Cellular signals were spotty for many as well. 

By late afternoon, many residents eager to get outside and survey the damage were seen walking about town.

Local crews working night and day

If roads weren't cleared quickly, it wasn't for lack of trying. The town's highway crew showed up for work Saturday night by midnight, said Kevin Winn, public works commissioner. "We've logged at least 100 calls about trees down, flooded basements. The problem is, we in some cases we have to wait for the utility response because of live wires. In other cases, we're doing what we can to clear any road, even if it's a state road."

Access to Northern Westchester Hospital Center via Route 172 was restored by 5 p.m. 

Other notable damaged areas today included Route 35 in Lewisboro, completely blocked heading East at the town park until late afternoon, Valley Edge Road in Katonah blocked, and Route 117 at Huntville Road was blocked for most of the day.

See the video posted with this story for images of storm damage, including a tree on a house located on Huntville Farm Road in Waccabuc.

The local fire departments were out in full force all day. Santo Curro, Bedford Hills Fire Department commissioner, said they'd responded to more calls than he could count. They would begin helping residents with basement pumpouts on Monday, he said, because the ground was too saturated to start any earlier. 

More than 25,000 NYSEG customers in northeastern Westchester lost power, according to NYSEG's website.