[UPDATE] Peekskill Police, Cortlandt Officials Advise Caution During Halloween

Update Noon:

Editor's Note: The Town Cortlandt sent out the following advisory regarding Halloween.

It is strongly recommended that there is no trick-or-treating after sundown due to down wires and trees.

The Halloween Party is going forward at the Town of Cortlandt Youth Center at 6p.m., which is located off Route 9A by the state Police office and Cortlandt Train Station. The party is supervised with many activities. Please join us for a safe party.

Update, 11:30a.m.:

Editor's Note: Peekskill police sent out the following advisory regarding Halloween.

Due to the aftermath surrounding Hurricane Sandy, the City of Peekskill Police Department would like to remind all who are planning on celebrating Halloween to be extra careful.  

There are numerous hazards, many of which still have not been identified, that can be attributed to the recent storm.  Parents are urged to only allow their children to trick or treat under very close adult supervision and in neighborhoods that have not been affected by downed trees and wires.

 Downed wires and unstable trees present a significant danger and should be avoided at all costs.  While unfortunate, it may be best that parents keep their children home and plan alternate activities with close friends and relatives rather than risk the hazards left in the wake of the recent storm. 

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Officials in Peekskill and the town of Cortlandt are patiently awaiting updates from Consolidated Edison on possible power restoration.

As of 9:30 p.m., Cortlandt had 4,265 customers out of power while, Croton-on-Hudson had 2,217, Peekskill had 2,168 and Buchanan had 300.

While the State of Emergency in Peekskill was rescinded at 8 a.m this morning, Cortlandt still has one in effect.

“We’re trying to get an update from ConEd shortly,” said Anthony Ruggiero, Peekskilll’s director or planning. “They have crew out and there’s obviously a lot of work to do.”

Ruggiero said city is keeping track of all storm related expenses with the hope receiving reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Authority.

Peekskill city and Cortlandt town halls are currently open and normal services have been resumed.

In Cortlandt, 50 roads had been closed due to storm related debris and damage Tuesday. Teh town’s shelter will remain open this week to accommodate those in need

The Cortlandt town Halloween party is still on, but it has been moved to the town youth center, located off Route 9A the Cortlandt Train Station and the state police barracks.

Check back for more updates as they become available.

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Update 5 p.m.:

Peekskill schools will be closed on Wednesday.

Here are the following update as of 4:30 p.m.:

• Acting Peekskill City Manager Brian Havaranek is rescinding the city's state of emergency at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
• Hendrick Hudson and Lakeland school will remain closed Wednesday.
• The Veteran's Administration Hudson Valley Health Care System main campuses and the Poughkeepsie Community Based Clinic will be open. The Community Based Clinics in Carmel, Goshen, Monticello, New City, Pine Plains and Port Jervis will remain closed. Staff are to report to either of the main campuses & supervisors, or request annual leave.

Update, Noon: The City of Peekskill closed its emergency shelter in the high school gym at noon. 

Update. 8:30 a.m.:

A little more than 4,000 customers remained with out power in Cortlandt, while 3,000 customers remained without power in Peekskill Tuesday morning. Con Edison has not given updates on restoration time. Utility officials said road conditions have prevented them from doing damage assessments.

Update 12a.m., Oct. 30, 2012:

Residents of the River Edge Trailer Park in Verplanck were evacuated earlier tonight after their property was flooded waist high with water from the neighboring  Hudson River.

Cortlandt town Supervisor Linda Puglisi said members of the Verplanck Fire Department, an officer from the Westchester County Department of Public Safety and town employees helped evacuate everyone at about 9 p.m. The property, which has 45 mobile homes, sites right at the edge of the riverfront.

Puglisi said the water levels are higher than they were last year during Hurricane Irene.

“This is, by far, the worst that I’ve experienced and I’ve been supervisor for 21 years,” Puglisi said.

Puglisi said Verplanck firefighters went down to the park at 8 a.m. to knock on doors and alert residents of the flooding danger. A few of the families had already left prior to the firefighters arrival.

Firefighters went to the park again at about 5 p.m.

“We strongly recommended that they go to the shelter that is open at the community center, but only a few took advantage of it,” Puglisi said.

About 30 people were evacuated and no injuries were reported.

The town is currently operating its emergency operations center at town hall.

While ta little more than 3,500 residents remained without power as of midnight, it is unlikely Con Edison workers will start power restoration in the town until tomorrow morning. That is because the utility's policy is to call in its crews when sustained winds reach 40 miles per hour, according to Puglisi.

Road crews will begin handling down trees and branches once Con Edison workers are available to deal with fallen electrical wires.

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There are more than 6,000 customers without Cortlandt and Peekskill so far tonight.

Consolidated Hudson reported 3,091 outages in Cortlandt, 2,953 in Peekskill and 104 in Croton-on-Hudson as of 9 p.m. No restoration time has been given.

“We ask you to contact Con Edison and they have also assigned representatives to be situated at the Town’s Highway garage during the storm which will be beneficial to our crews,” Cortlandt town Supervisor Linda Puglisi said in statement released earlier this evening.

Puglisi advised residents living near low lying areas in the town close to the Hudson River to evacuate the area. There is shelter open at the town’s community center, located off Westbrook Drive, which is capable of holding about a couple hundred people.

People can bring their  pets in crates and non-perishable food and blankets with them to the town’s shelter.

John Mitchell, a Town of Putnam Valley resident, stopped by the Cortlandt shelter because Putnam Valley’s community center had closed early.

Mitchell  and his neighbor’s wanted to make sure Cortlandt would accept them if they needed a shelter. Thankfully, they were allowed to stop by if needed.

“You never know,” Mitchell said. “They’re pretty quick in terms of getting the utilities back up. It depends how bad it gets.”

Workers at the center said the shelters usually draw about 30 people during bad storms.

In Peekskill, emergency officials set up a shelter inside the Peekskill High School gymnasium.

Anthony Ruggiero, Peekskill’s planning director, said the shelter had cots for up to 100 people. He said doesn’t the shelter typically gets that many people for storms, but he said this wasn’t a typical storm.

“I don’t think we’ve seen a storm like this in a while,” Ruggiero said.

State of emergencies have been declared in both Cortlandt and Peekskill.

Residents can contact Consolidated Edison for power outages at 1-800-75CONED or go to their website www.coned.com.