Reports

Provided by Highland Falls Trustee Melanie Guerrero

1. Realtors Deborah Waters and John Willis of Howard Hannah Rand Realty and realtor Gillian Kelley of HomeSmart Realty have just informed me of a generous relief offer from the National Association of Realtors and HGAR: Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors – Realtor Relief Foundation.

Highland Falls and Ft. Montgomery residents can apply via that link but tonight Deborah Waters, John Willis, and Gillian Kelley will be at the National Night Out at the West Point visitors center to hand out applications and help people fill them out.

The National Night Out starts at 5pm and ends at 8 pm, Tuesday August 1st, 2023.

Deborah, John and Gillian will also be at the Senior Center Wednesday Aug 2nd, 2023 from 10 am to 3pm.

Provided by Highland Falls NY Trustee Melanie Guerero

1.  FEMA has declared us a major disaster area which qualifies us for MUNICIPAL funding.  This will help the community with the rebuilding of roads, bridges, water and sewer plants.  We are still waiting for FEMA to approve funding for INDIVIDUAL/HOMEOWNER damages.

These are two non-FEMA potential sources of funding for INDIVIDUALS/HOMEOWNERS that are open for applications:

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2.  Popolopen Bridge is anticipated to remain closed for another six to eight weeks.

3.  Debris/appliance/trash pickup is ongoing.  Please remove the doors of refrigerators (and all food) otherwise we will not pick up.

4.  The food distribution and hot meal service at Sacred Heart and Holy Innocence will end on Thursday July 27 (they will resume the normal food pantry hours as before the flood, however).  Here is the schedule for the next three days:

• Sunday and Monday closed
• Tuesday at Sacred Heart 10 am to 12 noon
• Wednesday at Holy Innocence 4pm to 5:30 pm
• Thursday at Sacred Heart 4pm to 6 pm

5.  Samaritan’s Purse and Team Rubicon continue to go in homes to help with clean up. Please call 311 or (844) 965-1386 if you want to get on the list.  It is not too late.

6.  There is a Village Board Meeting August 7. Location to be announced.

Provided by Highland Falls Trustee Melanie Guerero

Before you remove a refrigerator from your home, it must be completely emptied of all contents and the door(s) must be removed, If you need assistance, please contact: 844-965-1386 (Crisis Clean Up)

The Red Cross has officially stopped providing shelter at the Sacred Heart School. If you should find yourself in need of emergency housing, please call 911 and/or 311.

The Sacred Heart School will be ramping down its initial disaster operations effective Wednesday, July 26th, but will still be a resource to the community in a more limited capacity.

• The kitchen will no longer be serving prepared meals after dinner is served on Wednesday, July 26th.

• The Food Pantry will be open for resources and regular food pantry operations on Tuesdays from 10:00 a.m. until 12 Noon, and on Thursdays from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.

• The Holy Innocents Food Pantry will be open on Wednesdays from 4:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.

If you have not already done so, please complete the Residential Damage Survey Form accessible from the Orange County website (https:www.orangecountygov.com), click the link at the top labeled “Flood Recovery Resources & Information” and scroll down to form. If you do not have access to a computer, you can call 311. Other relevant information and resources are available on that page.

To get more information or to apply for the Flood Assistance Program announced by the State, go to www.rupco.org (http://www.rupco.org/) or call 845.713.4568

1. Important Alert! Homeowners now are able to apply for the $3M released by NYS via RUPCO/RDAC through this website: https://rupco.org/flood-assistance-program/ (https://rupco.org/flood-assistance-program/). It is easy to complete but based on income level. This is a separate source from the FEMA Individual Assistance that is still pending approval, so please put your application in.

2. Garbage and Dump Trucks are going around Highland Falls and Ft. Montgomery picking up appliances, debris, furniture. PLEASE REMOVE the DOOR to all REFRIGERATORS you want picked up or we will not pick it up. All garbage or food items have to be bagged separately and not inside the refrigerator.

3. FEMA assessors for the MUNICIPALITY came yesterday and we are waiting for them to approve funding for our infrastructure damages.

4. FEMA assessors for the homeowners/individuals will come tomorrow. Their team will be going around the first 100 hardest hit homes. Please DO NOT solicit them to come to your home. They have a list and a process to go through.

5. As a reminder to an earlier post, water testing kits are available at the American Legion today for those who have wells. Samples have to be in by 3 pm today. Orange County is also advising that people with wells preemptively decontaminate their water even if you don’t test it. Here are links on how to decontaminate your well:

A. https://www.health.ny.gov/…/drinking/well_disinfect.htm

B. Video for well disinfection: https://youtu.be/l5OLPYZx6ac

C. CDC guidelines for well disinfection after an emergency:

https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/wellsdisinfect.html

1. For families, homeowners, businesses needing financial assistance with storm damage costs please sign up at the BIll Larkin Task Force form here. This is a charitable organization created by Assemblyman Maher, and they will help leverage vendors to get tax breaks/write offs on the cost of rebuilding as well as provide financial help. They will also have staff help Seniors fill out the application online, the date of when the staffers will arrive will be posted soon.

2. Please call (844) 965-1386 (Crisis Cleanup Hotline) or register on https://bit.ly/OCResidentDamageAssistance or call 311 or 211 if you need help with clean up. They will coordinate with Team Rubicon (veteran based clean up group) and Samaritan’s Purse (non-denominational Church based clean up group) to put you on the list for help with muck outs, chainsaw operations, mold remediation, debris removal. Samaritan’s Purse has been here for two days and camped at Municipal parking lot 2, and Team Rubicon have teams that are driving around putting people on the list as well.

3. We cannot stress enough that if you have damage to your home please sign up online to report it. Form link is here.

Or use this link from Senator Skoufis’ office: https://highlandfallsny.com/fema-damage/

The county, state, FEMA need this information for us to meet a certain threshold to get funding. An example of significant damage would be if your electrical panel is damaged. Structural damages are very important to report.

4. Five garbage trucks will be going around today to pick up debris/trash. We are trying to get more for the next few days but laborers are needed. We are trying to organize from other volunteer groups to see if we can get help with loading trash in the trucks.

5. Test results for the Well water did not pass. You can decontaminate your well water by following this method (from Orange County website):

We will try to get you a YouTube link as well. You can get bleach from the Shelter at Sacred Heart. There will be more well water testing kits available at the American legion on July 19, Wednesday but you can preemptively treat your well water if you want.

6. Popolopen bridge is still closed. From Highland Falls and Ft. Montgomery you would still have to go through 9W to 293 to Route 6 to get to the Palisades. But the good news is that Route 6 is now open in both directions between state route 293 and the Long Mountain Circle. continue to expect delays because of lane reduction in the Palisades. The Bear Mountain bridge has been open since last Saturday.

9W between Stoney Lonesome and O’Neil HS is still closed because of a drainage issue. It is planned to open in the next couple of days, we will keep you posted.

218 and Old State Rd are still closed. As a reminder, please do not go through construction zones. It is dangerous and you could be arrested for trespassing.

7. ADA toilet trailers and portable AC units will be up and running at the Sacred heart Shelter by today.

8. Estimates from both town and village engineers regarding municipal damages has been received by the Public assistance office and we are waiting for FEMA to arrive to assess damages. We still have not gotten funding but we have to follow the process and certain damage thresholds have to be met for them to give us funds.

Source: Highland Falls, NY Official site

1. 9W going north is now open. It is only one lane, so expect delays. 9W going south is open except for the overpass to get to the hill. That stretch is anticipated to open Monday, if not sooner. DPW is working on updating the signs on 9W.
2. Access to the Highland Falls Sewer Plant and Water Plant have been established as of yesterday but not the Ft. Montgomery Sewer Plant.
3. There is still heavy flow of water at the Kleitz/Drew Avenue headwall and the road remains closed.
4. A two-day water test on water from the Water plant is being conducted. The first sample passed.
5. Water testing kits for homeowners to test water from their tap and wells (for those who have wells) are available at American Legion from 10 to 3:30 today. The water has to be returned to American legion within 24 hours of collection. Depending on the demand they will have more available.
6. The wooden bridge behind Town Hall has been inspected and it is anticipated to open today to allow cars that are trapped in the municipal parking lot to get out/towed out.
7. We urge residents/homeowners to fill out this google form online:

It only takes five minutes or less to complete.

It is important to complete because of these reasons:

a). Orange County will use the list of people who have submitted that form to send teams to help them clean up their homes (to include mold remediation) AT NO COST to them. It is important to get on that list.

b) FEMA uses data gathered from that form to determine individual homeowner damages. We have to meet a certain monetary threshold to get funding from FEMA.

Finally, Tomorrow, Friday, July 14 from 12-8pm at the Sacred Heart the NY Department of Financial Services staff will be there to provide insurance assistance to residents affected by the flooding.

DFS will answer any insurance-related questions and direct homeowners and small businesses on how to file a claim through the National Flood Insurance Program.

If you can’t attend, call the Department of Financial Services Disaster Hotline at (800) 339-1759 For Insurance-Related Questions or visit the DFS Disaster and Flood Recovery Resource Center