Todd Pascarella, the mayor of the Village of Fleischmanns, which was devastated in Hurricane Irene a year ago, has issued a statement saying that he is poised to declared a state of emergency for Fleischmanns as soon as "tree limbs start falling or flooding starts." Travel is forbidden during a state of emergency, so he asks that people who are planning to go to shelters please go now.
From Pascarella's email:
As we all make our preparations for the impact of Hurricane Sandy I can not stress enough how important it is that you take every precaution to be as safe as possible. Most of us are thinking back to Irene and the devastating floods that it brought. The reality of this storm is that we do not know how bad the winds and flooding will get in addition to the outside chance of snow. We have to prepare for the worst case scenario which is all of the above including extended power outage which would mean no heat for many houses.
Belleayre Mountain is our official shelter and it is already open and taking people. The weather service is calling for 60+ mile per hour winds all night tonight and people could find themselves in a situation where they are trapped because there is no power or phones, and trees down in the streets. If you are going somewhere please go now. Once tree limbs start falling or flooding starts I will be declaring a State of Emergency and the roads will be closed to everyone except emergency personnel and evacuations. Please take advantage of the time we have right now to get yourself and your family to the safest location you can. Stay away from all downed power lines as they could pose a deadly threat.
Daily updates will be forthcoming on the Middletown website which we are linking directly from www.fleischmannsny.org
In addition there will be a hotline in Middletown which is 845-586-1115 which will be there for people who need information or have information for us.
Again please be as safe as possible and take nothing for granted.
