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Power restoration efforts in town continued Thursday as NYSEG assured customers it would have full restoration by 11 p.m. and Con Edison reported its newest estimated restoration time would be Friday by 11 p.m.
Bedford Police Lt. Jeff Dickan said the town is returning to business as usual. Although he does not know how much town and utility company work crews were able to accomplish with Wednesday's storm, the nor'easter did not do much to set back Sandy recovery efforts, he said.
At the same time, he said, “the volume of calls during these types of storms is incredible." Dickan said there were 16 accidents and another 17 disabled vehicle service calls during the nor’easter.
“The officers who worked last night said it was basically a parking lot in certain areas," Dickan said. "It was so icy and so many cars had gotten stuck, it was pretty much at a standstill for a while.”
Dickan said police authorities believe this year’s series of storms was more devastating townwide in terms of power outages and damage to utilities, when compared to Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm last year.
When it comes to dealing with fallout from Sandy, Dickan said the police's role will soon be over, now that all 130 initially impassable roads are open.
At this point, he said it's up to the utilities and DPW workers to put in the man hours during storm cleanup, a process that could last months and will involve carting off trees and loads of debris from the sides of the roads.
While Wednesday’s storm caused a two-hour school delay Thursday, Bedford Central School District Superintendent Jere Hochman said the district does not yet know whether these “storm days” will affect spring break or take a bite out of summer vacation.
“It's too soon to know,” Hochman said. “However, I am sure that districts will appeal to the (New York State Education) Commissioner's office to allow for an emergency calendar.”
Day warming shelters and charging stations continue to be available at the libraries and fire houses in Bedford, Bedford Hills and Katonah for those who are still without power. The town will also be removing storm debris and doing leaf pick-up shortly.
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