Governor Cuomo says state government has learned from Super Storm Sandy and a string of terrible flood incidents in Central and Eastern New York in recent years. That's why so much specialized equipment is in Western New York, with more coming. WBFO's Mike Desmond reports.
The Governor says he has had more emergency incidents involving weather in his four years in office than his father, Governor Mario Cuomo, had in 12 years.
Cuomo said state government has learned from floods which blew out sewage treatment plants, washed away agricultural chemicals, and flooded storage areas for petrochemicals. All of it went into waterways and - in some cases - the State Barge Canal. Cuomo says there is an image of a flood which isn't accurate.
"Sounds relatively harmless. It's water and it comes up and it goes down. It's not water. It's a toxic brew is what happens in a flood. It has sewage in it. It has all sorts of run-off in it. And it does tremendous damage with anything that it hits," said Cuomo.
That is why state officials have the specialized equipment. They work hard to have emergency generators in case of power outages, so sewer plants won't overflow or industrial sump pumps don't stop working, and water and chemicals don't mix.
