Ossining: Wires, Water and Mud the Day After Hurricane Irene

Village and Town of Ossining residents brushed by Hurricane Irene are working on normal.

Today the Village of Ossining Police Department is back to its normal rotation; but most residents who commute on Metro-North are taking the day off as the railroad continues its storm repairs.

Thousands of residents are without power this morning. Right now there are 1,182 Town residents without power. There are 1,572 residents without power in the village. That number has dramatically increased since Irene hit yesterday. High winds and fallen trees are mostly to blame.

The floodwaters near the train station and the waterfront have almost completely dried up. Earlier yesterday there were small amounts of raw sewage backup in the area. The sewage backup had been due to the fact that the county sewage plant next to the park was beyond its capacity.

Down by the waterfront numerous streets had been closed due to flooding, but now those streets are back open. On Route 134 workers were trying to clear downed trees along the road. There had also been a road closure along Chappaqua Road between 9A and North State Rd. due to flooding.

On Denny Street there was at least one wire down on a utility pole (see picture). Police had blocked off the street while officials waited for ConEd crews to fix the downed wire. Only some of the homes on Denny Street were without power.

Officials are happy with the way residents, authorities and volunteers reacted to Hurricane Irene. "We had been planning for this for a long time, and it all went off perfectly—including the storm which was very nice to us—it didn't do that much damage," said Ossining Mayor Bill Hanauer. 

"I want to thank everyone in the Town of Ossining. People really took the precautions to heart and I was very happy to see that we were well prepared," said Town of Ossining Supervisor Catherine Borgia.