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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says weather models indicate that there could be as many as 11 hurricanes, up to six of which could be Category 3 or above. The season runs through Nov. 30.
Hurricane Sandy hit the Rivertowns and Greenburgh communities on Oct. 29, 2012 and left downed trees and power outages for up to three weeks in some areas.
“As we saw first-hand with Sandy, it’s important to remember that tropical storm and hurricane impacts are not limited to the coastline," acting NOAA administrator Kathryn Sullivan said in a statement. "Strong winds, torrential rain, flooding and tornadoes often threaten inland areas far from where the storm first makes landfall.”
According to Town of Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner representatives from Con Ed, the Greenburgh Police Chief, state emergency officials and the Deputy Director of National Center for Disaster Preparedness Center presented ideas on storm readiness and recovery this past winter.
"We will now be able to notify residents, via cell phones, of future emergencies," Feiner said. "People will be able to sign up to receive up to date information as to how the town is dealing with emergencies. This notification system differs from the E list and will only be used in the event of emergencies."
Rivertowns villages have also updated lists of senior citizens and others who may need assistance during power outages and other emergencies.
Hastings Mayor Peter Swiderski said recovery from last year's storms is nearly complete and new networking in the village is in place.
"We still have some trees down in woods that could be cleaned up, but otherwise fully recovered," Swiderski said. "We are institutionalizing our volunteer network of people willing to help out. We have some people committed to keeping those lists and procedures up to date."
Greenburgh Police are also taking steps to place generators at traffic light locations to keep the lights on and recommending that a generator be placed at the Theodore Young Community Center, a location that has been used as an emergency shelter.
Feiner said New York State is considering the possibility of requiring generators in some gas stations to reduce the problem of gas shortages experienced in the community due to power outages in the aftermath of previous storms.
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