westchester

Rep. Lawler talks to News 12 about the scope of the storm damage in the Hudson Valley.

Westchester

WC | Weather

HVFORECAST

We remain on storm watch as this storm bears down on the Hudson Valley in Westchester right now. Meteorologist Julian C Wright is here. So Julian, what's the timing for when all of this is really going to be a big impact for people? So the good news is, is that throughout the Hudson Valley Tama, it hasn't been a real big issue as of yet, but the problem is as we get closer towards the dinner time hour, we are looking for things to start to intensify for many of us. So getting straight into what we can expect fact again, mainly dinner time and afterwards is when we're looking for a bit more heavy rain and for the winds to start to increase where we could see between 30 to 40 MPH gusts and that'll be from tonight's going into our early Monday morning which could result in some power outages or for areas that have been into those over saturated grounds where we could see some trees that have been knocked over, especially older trees as well. Here's a look at what we got in terms of our flood watch. Now, the flood watch in effect is gonna stick around until we get into our Monday morning. How much rain we're gonna be expecting is mainly close to around two inches throughout much of the Hudson Valley. But we could see areas like Putnam and parts of Dutchess and even four parts of the Westchester areas. We could be pushing closer to that three inch mark, especially if you're closer over towards the sound. Overall though, we are looking for this to be again, a bit of a mess that will be sticking around for us by the time we get into the rest of overnight. So here's a look at what we have as of right now, this abundance of rain, a very vast storm system is continuing to push its way up across the east coast. Now, we have windy conditions that are mainly off to the east, but those winds will start to pick up more as we get into the rest of tonight. So as of right now, it's for them about the next hour or two, we are looking for a bit of some light breakage in that rain for parts of Orange County and even Putnam into the southern parts of Ulster count as well. So we could see once again, a little bit of that rain starting to dwindle out, especially over towards Westchester, but it has been consistent light rain as we're going into this evening. So just be prepared for that rain to start to pick up a bit more, but since we are on to the lighter end, we haven't seen a whole lot as of right now. But visibility and the rain itself that we've seen, especially over towards Tarrytown. We've had reports where visibility has been very, very poor from fog and from the rain that's been falling. So if you can definitely don't try to go outside if you don't need to. But as we get past dinner time, that's where we're looking for a bit more of that heavy rainfall from 7 to 9 o'clock is we're expecting to see that rain to really be heavy and continue throughout the rest of tonight. So if you could even hear that heavy rain going in from the overnight carrying into our early Monday and walking through the hour by hour, we're looking at five hour periods of potentially seeing that rain just be heavy for us, which is where we're gonna be seeing the most accumulation of rain from overnight into our early Monday morning. Now, the wind speeds again are going to be varying between 20 to 35 MPH, maybe even 48 MPH gusts for some areas. A quick look at how much rain we could be expecting. Again. Another two inches is possible. Some areas maybe even three. But once we're all set and done with this by Monday afternoon, it's mainly going to be breezy and also quiet. All right, Julian, thank you. For that update. We will check back in with you shortly and.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/40014203-0fc4-4cc2-92b0-f8e8189e575d/40014203-0fc4-4cc2-92b0-f8e8189e575d.transcribe

Weather

Hudson Valley

HV | Weather

5pmlawler710_2023-07-10-17-57-32

INTERVIEW: Rep. Mike Lawler discusses storm damage

Governor wasn't the only leader making the rounds outside today. Federal leaders were also on the ground here in the Hudson Valley. We're joined now by Hudson Valley, Congressman, Mike Lawler, thanks for joining us, Congressman. Thanks for having me. And I know you've been all over the Hudson Valley today with our first responders talking to people and getting a look at the damage. Can you give us an idea of the scope of the damage that you've seen today? And then who seems to be the worst off so far? I started my day in Yorktown and then went to Putnam Valley in Cold Spring and Putnam County and, and then in Stony Point, uh and those communities were definitely impacted severely. We're talking about millions of dollars worth of damage in roads, bridges, culverts, municipal buildings, the town of Kent Town Hall had flooding uh and then property damage to individuals. Uh So this is, you know, totaling in the millions of dollars throughout the Hudson Valley. Uh I've been in touch with Governor Hole's office, uh and Catherine Garcia, the Director of State Operations uh on, on the need to add Rockland Putnam Westchester Duchess. Uh to the state of emergency, uh, and obviously work together to survey the damage, uh, add up all the dollars, uh, you know, and see what has been impacted, what, what the losses are, what needs to be rebuilt to ensure that, you know, we meet the necessary thresholds to get the federal dollars from fema. And that's obviously critical here. We want to make sure that we get those federal dollars to help all of our municipalities and our homeowners rebuild after this devastating flash floods that took the life of one individual and required dozens to be rescued over the last 24 hours. Just devastating damage. What would that declaration do for those areas in both the short and long term? Well, short term, obviously, it ensures that there's a state and federal resources available. Um, you know, our first responders did a phenomenal job, uh, over the last 24 hours limiting the damage. Really. It could have been far worse as the governor said, if our first responders weren't out there doing the job, our highway department, firefighters, ems police, they really did a great job. But, uh, long term, it's going to be that we need to survey all of the damage, get, uh, you know, the dollar amounts associated with it, what it's going to cost to rebuild and repair and submit that to the federal government, uh, to get those federal dollars. So, it's critically important. We've been through this before. Uh, just two years ago, you know, in the Hudson Valley, when we had the storm come through and had millions of dollars in severe damage. So this is, this is unfortunately nothing new but something that we need to make sure that we take all appropriate measures to gather the information, survey the damage and make sure that we qualify for those federal dollars. And in just the last few seconds that we have congressman, can you tell us if there's any aid at the state level that could be put into place sooner than that? Well, I think, you know, the state, the governor did mobilize, uh, you know, our department of Emergency Management and, uh, homeland Security and they really did a great job, uh, working with our local government, uh, to, to help, uh, prevent, uh, any, any major loss of life, uh, and, and limit the damage. But, you know, obviously, immediately, you know, we want to get as many dollars flowing as possible to help our municipalities and homeowners recover. And so that's going to require the state and the federal government working together to expeditiously move these funds along. Uh, and obviously, hopefully, our insurance companies will expedite the process as well for those who did have flood insurance, uh, to get the support that they need. All right, Congressman, we're gonna have to leave it right there for now. Thanks so much for joining us. Stay safe out there and please call us any time.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/20dd72ef-1d8f-4878-b4b8-b59a15fc6597/20dd72ef-1d8f-4878-b4b8-b59a15fc6597.transcribe