Thursday, August 13, 2009

National Guard addressing water crisis in Gowanda - ObserverToday.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - Dunkirk | The Observer

National Guard addressing water crisis in Gowanda - ObserverToday.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information - Dunkirk | The Observer:
"'As everybody knows, the water system here in Gowanda has been severely compromised, and not helped by a fire to one of the homes just a couple of hours ago,' Paterson began. 'The local reservoirs have overtopped and have severely reduced the amount of available water that is here. The sewer system has been damaged, the mayor reports that hundreds of homes have been damaged, the police department and municipal buildings have received damage, the Tri-County Hospital has been evacuated and closed as of early Monday morning and it will remain closed for some period of time.'

The damages found in Erie and Cattaraugus counties that Paterson eluded to have been roughly estimated at around $19 million, $7 million shy of the federal threshold for disaster relief aid. Despite the rough estimate, Paterson said he believes the $26 million worth of damage required could come from the Gowanda area alone."

More later including this:
"To aid in water distribution and cleanup duties, the National Guard has been called in. Forty National Guard soldiers and 14 heavy duty pieces of equipment were deployed on Panther Drive in Gowanda early Wednesday afternoon to begin their work."

and quotes from State Senator Cathy Young who believes the storm is bad enough to warrant Federal aid.

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