Hurricane Sandy Dominates Police Blotters

Both Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow police departments reported receiving over 50 calls when Sandy first struck on Oct. 29, and continued to hurt us for days after. 

Read initial reports of police activities here.

In Tarrytown the endless power-line and tree-down calls – with, amazingly, no accidents or injuries – started with the first tree fall at 12:07 p.m. on Oct. 29 at Windle Park.

The convent at Marymount on Warren Avenue called police at 3:20 p.m. to say they had no power and they needed assistance carrying their wheelchair-bound nuns from the first floor to their rooms on the higher floors. The Fire Chief was notified and said he would send manpower to assist. The Fire Department responded and carried the women up the stairs, some say there was singing along the way.

A seven-months pregnant woman was stuck in the elevator at Hamilton Place at 5:41 p.m. The Tarrytown Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded, since the woman was pregnant, along with the Fire Dept. The woman was released from the elevator, said Lieutenant William Herguth, though he didn’t know how long she was in there.

Then comes the various incidents involving tree vs. house:

• Highland Avenue at 6:24 p.m., front window broken by tree.
• Barnes Road at 6:36 p.m., the same. Broken window.
• Tree on house reported on Beech Lane, 7:23 p.m.
• Large tree resting on back of house, Tarry Place, 7:39 p.m.

Route 9 was closed at 828 South Broadway by 7:34 p.m.

Wires were down and on fire at Neperan Road at 9:40 p.m. but the Fire Chief reported being unable to respond due to power lines down on Neperan and Egan’s Lot blocking their way. 

The lowest level of Franklin Courts was getting evacuated as of 10:36 p.m. with tenant transported to the Main Street Fire House. They returned after the housing authority had cleaned all the apartments and given the okay. Residents were fed (again by those firefighters) and transported back home by 11:02 a.m. on Oct. 30.

The phone system was down in police headquarters as of 7 a.m., Oct. 30. Officers were told the system was out due to a power outage all the way over on 220 White Plains Road.

At 4:43 p.m. on Oct. 30 the owner of a boat came into headquarters to report that overnight his boat was on a trailer at the Tarrytown Boat Club. During the course of the hurricane, his boat ended up in Pierson Park suffering damage.

He was certainly not the only one with a boat moved to where it shouldn’t be. One boat sitting in the parking area alongside Losee Field happens to be named “The Wanderer.”

Then, post-storm, comes the desparate search for ice to those finding their food warming in their fridges and one strange theft. 

On Oct. 31 at 2:21 p.m. an employee from the Mobil Station reported that a day ago a person had taken ice from the station without paying. The employee requested a complaint filed. An officer on the scene was told that one driver in a car with NY plates took a bag of ice from the ice machine, allegedly verbally abused the employee, and drove away. A petit larceny case was completed. At 3:12 p.m. the suspect was transported by detectives to headquarters for the charge of petit larceny.

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And in Sleepy Hollow:

It all begins early with a tree falling on Oct. 29 at 9:41 a.m. on Webber Avenue. A large branch is down by 12:58 p.m. on Pokahoe Drive. A tree fell on a car, cracking rear windshield, at 2:28 p.m. on Evergreen Way.

In all, Police Chief Gregory Camp reported 18 trees down in 24 hours, which doesn't compare to the 10,000 trees officials say have been cleaned up this week in New Jersey, but it certainly keeps a small on its toes.

The calls kept coming rapid succession.

• 3:50 p.m. Tree blocking Sleepy Hollow Road.
• 4 p.m. Tree on wires on Fremont Road.
• 4:19 p.m. Tree limb down on wires, Pokahoe Road.
• 6:04 p.m. Tree on house, Hunter Avenue. No injuries reported but full fire department response called in.
• 6:43 p.m. Tree down with live wires, Fremont Road.

And then there's a stage of the day when calls are coming almost every few minutes from about 7 to  11 p.m.

Including:

• 8:21 p.m. another tree on house, with no injuries but two cars in driveway damaged on Fremont Road. Fremont Road again!
• 8:41 p.m. Transformer explosion and huge fire reported on Devries Avenue.
• 9:02 p.m. Transformer earlier on fire, now on fire again on Sleepy Hollow Road, which had been previously closed. Responders cannot reach scene so call in Mt Pleasant’s Archeville fire department to assist.

Brief lull. Other calls. 11:36 p.m. a Pocantico Street resident reports her oxygen is not working because of the power outage. Ambulance and medic are sent and woman is transported to Phelps.

7:02 a.m., Oct. 30, Pokahoe Drive resident needs assistance manually opening his electronic garage door. Officers assisted.

There was an elderly woman and her husband in Tarrytown who told me they were trapped in their house for days without power because they didn't think they could open their electronic garage door.

That makes 52 calls in a 24-hour period.

Still storm-related calls continued after the storm.

On Oct 31, at 10:03 a.m., a caller on Munroe Avenue said a tree, possibly a village tree, had fallen and blocked her driveway. DPW Foreman Richard Gross would go to make a determination about ownership of the tree.

While Con Ed may be getting collectively bashed these days, everyone seems very positive about the DPW. Read this blog from Craig Laub. Do you agree?

And then there was gas. 

On Nov. 1 at 9:29 a.m., the gas situation started to rear its head in Sleepy Hollow. With most stations without power and unable to pump gas, Mobil was the only game on this side of Route 9. A caller reported major traffic in front of the high school and he was concerned that an accident would occur. An officer was sent to assist and posted no parking signs on the street from the station all the way to Beekman to keep a pile-up from occurring. Still it was a mess and the station by early afternoon had already run out of gas.

On Nov. 1., police also got some calls to check on the welfare of various persons without power and went to advise them of Tarrytown’s warming shelter. Officers were going door to door soon to tell others without power about their options.

Then the Nor'easter came.

If only we could all take a long winter's nap. 

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