Southold Sustains Its Own During Irene

Nearly a month after Tropical Storm Irene blew through , both town and officials have had time to reflect on how effective their emergency response was to the event.

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell was pleased with how the town’s six shelters were manned and operated during the storm. Russell said the town received “great cooperation” from the town’s schools, which housed the majority of the shelters. Shelters for individuals with special needs were set up at the in Mattituck and in Greenport was able to bring in a few patients.

The Red Cross had pre-staged supplies at the town’s shelters years ago, but when Greenport Mayor David Nyce went to open the shelter at , he did not find the supplies and had to grab cots and blankets from the Southold shelter.

Since it was the first time since Nyce had been in office that the school was officially used as a shelter, he did find out that the school is still under contract with the Red Cross to provide shelter. Nyce understood why Greenport would have to man its own shelter, but said the village should have been provided with supplies to run the shelter.

“I don’t want to bad mouth the Red Cross, they’re just not very active out here,” Nyce said.

Russell said the organization did help set up supplies prior to the storm, but because Southold is not heavily populated, they did not expect to see an influx of Red Cross volunteers in Southold.

“The Red Cross was great at helping in advance of the storms. They provided us with an ample supply of cots, blankets, etc.,” Russell said.

Nyce said he understood why the Red Cross sent its volunteers to areas where there was a greater population density, but he said he wishes he would have just had the supplies on-hand prior to the storm.

Russell said that when the Red Cross learned the town would be opening six shelters, they moved their volunteers to Brookhaven. The supervisor said the town is prepared to be self-sustaining when it comes to operating emergency shelters.

The supervisor also said the town’s emergency management team has proposed that each school get a generator, but due the expense of such generators is cost prohibitive at this time. In the future, Russell said he hopes to find a funding source from a federal or state agency to help defray costs. Ultimately, Russell said, the shelter had power.

“We had the power we needed,” Russell said.

Both Southold Town and Greenport will be applying to the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) to recover expenses incurred by Irene’s clean up. The town is still cleaning up brush from Irene and Russell said seeking funds to help pay for the cleanup,  any staffing the schools required during the storm, and any storm related emergency costs the fire departments incurred.

“We’re going to ask for as much reimbursement as we can,” Russell said.