New York Gov. George E. Pataki declared a State Disaster Emergency on Saturday for Onondaga and 12 other Central New York counties after a weekend ice storm closed roads and left thousands without power.

About 40,350 people in Central New York remained without power Sunday night, with less than 10,000 of those outages in the city of Syracuse, said Steve Brady of Niagara Mohawk. That number is down from the nearly 150,000 people who lost power when the storm first struck. Syracuse University was not directly affected by the outages.

Nearly 350 Niagara Mohawk crews, as well as crews from New England and Canada, are working to clear downed power lines and make repairs. Most people affected by the outage should have power by Monday night, but restoring service to areas of Oswego County, hardest hit by the storm, could take two to three days, Brady said.

Only three roads in Onondaga County remained closed because of downed power lines, said Dave Price of the Onondaga County Department of Transportation. Price could not say how soon those roads would open since the county must wait for Niagara Mohawk crews to clear the power lines.

The storm has placed a severe strain on relief service workers. The American Red Cross set up several shelters and warming centers across Onondaga and Oswego counties and coordinated efforts to ensure that people trapped by the storm could get prescription medicine in time, said Barbara Menter of the Onondaga-Oswego chapter of the Red Cross. Menter applauded the work of volunteers who worked overtime while the power was out.

‘As any disaster of this magnitude, it has pushed us beyond our limits,’ Menter said. ‘But the Red Cross is known for going beyond its limits.’

Pataki’s emergency declaration gives Niagara Mohawk access to assistance from the State Emergency Management Office, Brady said. The office typically helps with the logistics of emergency repair efforts, such as finding places to lodge crews from out of state and store their equipment, Brady said.

The Onondaga County DOT has seen little in the way of state assistance since the emergency was declared, Price said. In fact, Onondaga County has been assisting other emergency crews, loaning fuel to the Baldwinsville Fire department and offering support to crews in Oswego County.

Published on April 6, 2003 at 12:00 pm