Cuomo: Storm Damage ‘Staggering’
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last night’s storm damage in the New York City area is “staggering” and the true extent will be known after the flood waters recede, he told Fred Dicker on his Talk-1300 radio show this morning.
“The worst is over,” Cuomo said in the interview. “I believe the worst may be for NYers when they realize the extent of the damage.”
The governor called the storm that pounded the downstate area, but spared most of the upstate region “really very frightening.”
Cuomo said 900,000 power customers on Long Island alone — nearly 90 percent of its coverage area — are without power this morning.
At least six people died last night, but a final tally on the deaths is not yet known, the governor said.
“We don’t have the final number of fatalities because we haven’t found everyone yet,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo, who toured lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center site last night, said flooding made it difficult to move equipment around the city, calling the amount of water “extraordinary.”
“You had the floods and you couldn’t get the equipment in there,” he said. “You just literally couldn’t get the trucks in there.”
The slurry wall seven stories below ground remained dry, holding back the Hudson River last night (Cuomo’s state Director of Operations Howard Glaser tweeted some images from Cuomo’s tour last night).
The extent of the cost of the storm, including the economic hit businesses are taking from the storm, will likely be extensive.
“Wall Street is closed again, businesses are hurt … revenue will be down,” Cuomo said. “We know it’s going to be bad.”
Cuomo said he joked to President Obama last night that New York is experiencing these so-called “100-year storms” now every year.
“The construction of this city did not anticipate these kinds of situations,” he said.
A televised update from the governor is expected later this morning.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on October 30, 2012 at 11:15 am, and is filed under Andrew Cuomo. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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