Governor Declares State of Emergency for Eight Counties

This week the Governor declared a state of emergency for the counties of Cayuga, Jefferson, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Oswego, St. Lawrence and Wayne due to high water levels and significant potential for flooding. The Governor has ordered state agencies to protect state property and assist local governments and individuals responding to or recovering from local flooding. The Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is implementing a 5 mile per hour boating speed limit for vessels operating within 1000 feet of the Lake Ontario Shoreline to reduce erosion damage. The Governor has activated the New York National Guard by deploying 200 guardsmen and placing another 200 on standby for possible deployment, allocated a sandbags, pumps and aquadam to the impacted region.

The Governor said:

“We are preparing now for the reoccurrence of the 2017 flooding situation, which as people remember was devastating and caused a lot of damage and a lot of hardship for thousands of New Yorkers. We’re talking about the entire shoreline of Lake Ontario, so it’s hundreds of miles of New York State property. The only course of action is to do everything we can to be prepared before the flooding actually happens – and that’s what we’re doing. I’m also declaring an emergency order for the affected communities that sets a maximum speed limit of 5 miles per hour 1,000 feet from shoreline because the last thing we need are boat wakes creating additional waves. The emergency order also gives us flexibility in dealing with local governments and private property so we can install aquadam and other equipment to protect the shoreline.”