Village of
Westchester AUGUST 2010 Newsletter
From the Desk of The President PRESIDENT’S LETTER
2
CALENDAR
3
WATER BILL EXPLAINED
6 President Pulia meeting with local officials, state and federal representatives before a July 26 press conference regarding the state of the village following the horrific July 23 storms.
DISASTER LOANS AVAILABLE
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PRESIDENT’S NOTES
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PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS
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BOARD PROFILE
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Village Responds to Historical and Devastating Flood When the rains started late on the evening of Friday, July 23, 2010, no one had any foreshadowing that the nearly 8 inches of rain in a 10-hour period, would turn the Village of Westchester into an ocean of water. The first indication that things were taking a turn for the worse was at about 12:30 am on Saturday, July 24th. About that time the Westchester Fire Department, under the supervision and direction of Chief Rich Belmonte ordered a general call for all fire personnel to report for duty. At that same time, Public Works Department Director, John Fecarotta, dispatched his entire public works staff. Within the next hour, every available personnel from the fire department, public works department and police department were in the Village doing everything possible to address this disaster. Also on the street were the Village Manager, Stan Urban, our Board of Trustees and myself. As the rain continued to fall the Mayfair Retention Pond continued to rise.
Unfortunately, the Salt Creek, where the water from the retention pond flows, also began to rise. As if that wasn’t bad enough, on the north side of Westchester, the Addison Creek also continued to rise. Between 3:00-4:00 am the Salt Creek overflowed its banks, causing the Mayfair Retention Pond, which holds over 5.5 million gallons of water, to overflow and begin flooding the streets on the south side of town. The retention ponds at the Westbrook Corporate Center were also not spared. As these ponds overflowed across Wolf Rd, flood water flowed into the back and front yards of the residents on Windsor Ave, and into the basements of many in that area. By 3:00 am, the viaduct just east of Westchester Blvd at Roosevelt had flooded, stranding many residents who sought refuge in our fire department, where an evacuation center with cots, sleeping bags and pillows was set up and waiting. See PRESIDENT, page 2