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Rockland County Executive Ed Day offered his appreciation for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a press conference on Wednesday in Suffern for taking action in the region to address the challenges of the latest storm to rock the region.
With between 6 and 12 inches of snow, and wind gusts upwards of 45 mph expected on Wednesday, Cuomo declared the state of emergency early on Wednesday afternoon, including taking steps to ban tractor-trailers from area roadways.
Cuomo noted that the New York State Department of Transportation is ready to respond with 1,555 large plow/dump trucks, 193 medium plow/dump trucks, 322 loaders, 40 truck/loader mounted snow blowers, 51 tow plows, 14 pickup trucks with plows, and 18 graders. In addition, the Department has more than 326,000 tons of road salt on hand.
New York State Police will also increase their patrols during the storm in the areas most affected. They have ATVs available for deployment and troop emergency power and communications equipment has been tested.
Metro-North will operate on a reduced weekday schedule, providing 75 percent of normal capacity, with some trains expected to be canceled during the evening commute.
"I want to assure all Rocklanders that we are taking all necessary precautions to keep our roads clear and our families safe,” Day stated. “We are grateful to have the Governor as a partner in this effort. The resources provided by the State plan an essential role in our response and help ensure the safety of our communities.”
In a statement, Rockland State Sen. David Carlucci echoed Day’s words praising the governor for his swift reaction to the storm.
"I thank the Governor for taking action and making a stop in Rockland County today. Prolonged outages, up to 10 days are not acceptable. I agree with Gov. Cuomo, utility companies should lose their licenses when their responses are not adequate."
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