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Hurricane Sandy knocked down trees and power lines, closed roads and shut off power to thousands in Harrison when it hit in late October.
Residents were not happy with Consolidated Edison’s response to the widespread power outages throughout the town: It took more than 10 days until it had restored power to everyone in Harrison. Con Ed CEO Kevin Burke issued an apology to his company’s Westchester customers at a Nov. 8 press conference.
“I am sorry for what happened, I am very sorry for what happened,” said Burke. “We’ve worked on this very hard. We made a significant number of improvements after Hurricane Irene. Unfortunately, this one came in so much greater than what we were planning for.”
In the days without power, many went to the Harrison Public Library to charge their electronics, feel some warmth and access the Internet.
The bad storm showed the library's importance in Harrison, library director Galina Chernykh said.
"This is incredible proof that the library is the center of the community and a physical building can serve as a community shelter in a time of crisis," said Chernykh.
After the storm, the Harrison Central School District canceled school for the week. Town meetings were put on hold, and Harrison residents donated hundreds of books in the weeks after Sandy hit.
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