Story and photos By DEBORAH A. MILES When Hurricane Irene turned into a


tropical storm and was heading toward the northeast, people braced for the forecasted heavy winds and downpour. They prepared by getting extra


batteries and other supplies. Many thought the winds would be the wrecking ball of Mother Nature. Power outages occurred in some areas for as long as a week. But the major culprit was the rain. The storm devastated parts of upstate New York and Vermont. Houses were swept from their


foundations. Culverts cracked open as rivers swelled. A woman drowned August 28, when the overflowing Onesquethaw Creek in Albany County submerged the cottage where she was vacationing. Others lost possessions, such as family heirlooms and boxes of photographs. Many things, even animals, were washed away by angry rivers and creeks. PEF members at the state Department


of Transportation (DOT) were preparing behind the scenes, even before Irene punched upstate New York. A regional emergency operation center


was set-up in Schenectady just to deal with Irene, and then Tropical Storm Lee that arrived 10 days later.


Page 8—The Communicator October 2011


Go big early Dan Howard, a civil engineer 2 and


regional emergency manager, said the planning started August 25, well in advance of Irene, to prepare for the hit. “One of the directors from the main


DOT office said, ‘Go big early,’” Howard said. “We really needed to step up and bring people in to help attend to the situation. It was an unprecedented response to an unprecedented disaster. “The most challenging part was


triaging everything that was coming at us. In addition to the storm, a lot of other, and not so little, issues were coming up, such as the potential for a barge hitting the Twin Bridges on the I-87 border of southern Saratoga County,” Howard said. “In DOT Region 1, Irene caused the


worst damage I can remember, the worst being in Greene, Essex and Schenectady counties,” said Mike Stella, a civil engineer 1 and PEF Executive Board member. “A lot of roads are closed due to a total


washout. This DOT region covers eight counties, from Lake Placid to the Catskills and it borders Massachusetts and Vermont,” Stella said. Because of the storm’s magnitude, the


DOT Region 3 emergency manager sent staff to help in Schenectady.


“Our entire staff is vital to the state,”


Howard said. “In addition to what we are doing here, and the people who are out actually making repairs, we have roadway damage-assessment teams brought here from other DOT regions unaffected by the storm. They assess road conditions and, as we receive the information, it is provided to places such as the state Education Department so it knows how to route school buses and things of that nature. It’s our job to help the general public get around during a situation such as Irene,” Howard said. Guy Tedesco, a civil engineer 2, said


DOT has 16 teams to do damage assessment. “We are trying to get the roads


throughout the state back to where they were before the storm hit, so people can commute to wherever they have to go,” he said. Howard added that DOT provides a


free statewide traffic and traveler information service. Call 511 on your phone or visit www.511ny.org.


Talk about pink slips While Gov. Andrew Cuomo was flying


above the Catskill Mountains and Greene and Ulster counties assessing the damage, some of the people he planned to


PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445


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