Schumer, Gillibrand & Ryan spoke Monday
At 10:30 a.m. a week ago, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and a handful of other state elected officials stood in the middle of Main St. to talk about the horrific flood damage to Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery and West Point. The governor called for federal help.
Exactly a week later, at 10:45 a.m. Monday, the people who may be able to make that federal help were here — not standing on Main St., but standing in front of the West Point Museum. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Pat Ryan were on hand to, first see the damage caused by the flooding rains, but then talk about the approach they are using to get the community the help they need.
They had just taken a helicopter tour guided by USMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland.
“It was devastating,” Schumer said. “The roads, the bridges, the barracks on West Point … we saw the washout on Rt. 218, and the bridge that brought Rt. 9W to a halt. And we don’t know the full extent of the damage yet; the underlying ground is still soft, and we could continue to find damage over the next few months.”
Schumer said that early estimates of West Point’s damage from the storm were over $100 million. With West Point not eligible to be included in FEMA aid, Schumer said it will be up to the US Army Corps of Engineers to make the repairs on post.
He said he and the other elected officials will use a “two prong push to help secure the funds needed to support West Point and Hudson Valley communities including Cornwall, Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery.
For the community outside the gate, that means continuing to request a federal Major Disaster Declaration.
“I think FEMA will be here tomorrow,” he said. “And it is time for the feds to get all hands on deck and boost resources to help our communities recover from this once in a generation flood.”
Gillibrand agreed, saying that she is committed to “doing everything I can to get the maximum amount of federal aid to the area as soon as possible.”
Ryan, a West Point graduate, also agreed.
“After surveying the devastation across Orange County today, it’s clear we need rapid and robust federal support,” Ryan said. “I will continue fighting and pushing until all our families, small businesses and local governments get the resources they need to recover and rebuild.”
Ryan said he was on the phone with both Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus and LTG Gilland the night of the storm, and knows how hard they, as well as other area leaders, worked to make sure, first, residents were safe.
“Now,” the congressman said, “we are channeling our grief and frustration about what happened here into constructive urgency to get the repairs done.”
Gillibrand took a minute to offer her condolences to the family of Fort Montgomery resident Pam Nugent, who died in the flooding.
She also took a minute to praise Highland Falls’ Sallie Dorsch, who stood in front of the podium with the elected officials, for being someone who is doing “so much for this community”.
In turn, Dorsch thanked Neuhaus for his help since the tragedy, saying all she has had to do is call county officials and she’s received the help requested.
Dorsch also took a minute to thank West Point firefighter Conor Miller for the work the WPFD did at Weyant Green, in conjunction with local volunteers and firefighters, noting “once you got them out, those senior citizens came to me,” she said. It was just a few months ago, Schumer noted, that he and Ryan “secured a $1.8 million budget increase for the WPFD to purchase things like the wet suits they used that night.”
Miller noted that if he learned one thing the night of the flooding it was that the West Point-Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery area is “geographically isolated”.
“It was never more clear than on that night,” he said. “We were on our own; no one was able to help us.”
In closing, Schumer said they, “as a team” will not forget the Hudson Valley, noting that “when one area of America has a problem, the rest of America pulls together”.
The trio of elected officials then continued on to Cornwall to tour and talk with community leaders there about recovery.
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Neuhaus urged community residents who are able to be part of the cleanup effort, saying that daily at 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Samaritan’s Purse and Team Rubicon volunteers are training volunteers to help. More information about that is available at www.orangecountygov.com, under the Storm Recovery section of the website.
