Town faces numerous challenges after Oct. 12 disaster
SATISH MOHAN Amherst Supervisor
Amherst suffered a disaster on Oct. 12, the likes of which has not been seen for 90

years. We geared up to face the challenges. The police chief immediately set up an incident management center at the Amherst police headquarters, where all related town department heads met every morning to plan the day's activities.

The power outage was the main cause of suffering for homeowners and businesses. National Grid and NYSEG employed hundreds of crews to restore power lines.

We can't afford to have a repeat of such a power outage in the future. I will soon organize a planning meeting with the electric companies, citizens, and town officials to come up with alternate solutions, including laying electric cables underground.

The town opened emergency shelters at the Harlem Road Community Center, which was managed by the American Red Cross, and another at the Amherst Senior Center.

Amherst is very flat, and, therefore, the sanitary sewer flow has to be pumped up at 43 lift stations before it reaches the town's water pollution control facility on Tonawanda Creek Road. Several of these lift stations stopped due to the power failure, backing up sewer lines in homes.

This became a serious problem. We utilized generators to pump at major locations and set up a 24-hour hot line to help individual homeowners.

Opening the roads for Halloween was another challenge. Our highway crews and the contractor tried to clear as many roads as much as they could. Trick-or-treating was held without any incident.

Public assistance for the major disaster was granted on Oct. 24 by the federal government. Assistance has also been granted to individual households.

Under this assistance, homeowners and businesses that have been affected by the disaster are eligible to submit a claim for disaster-related damage, which includes, but is not limited to, economic injury assistance, physical injury assistance, and structural failure within the private property of individual homeowners. The deadline for registration for this assistance is Dec. 23 by calling 1-800-621-FEMA.

Contact your insurance company to have the damage appraised and your claim settled first. You do not have to wait for your insurance company to appraise the damage before registering your claim with FEMA.

You may also visit the following Disaster Recovery Centers located in Buffalo and the Town of Tonawanda:

. The Olmstead Center for the Visually Impaired, 1160 Main St., Buffalo.

. Brighton Golf Club, 70 Brompton Road, Tonawanda.

We have lived through the worst of this disaster, but some tasks still need to be completed, including trimming and cutting of damaged trees. Arborists are helping us in deciding which trees will survive through trimming branches and which trees should be felled.

We hope to complete most of the debris removal by the end of December. Several operations will continue through the winter and into the spring of 2007.