State officials say New York's 10th and final emergency stockpile of disaster response supplies is now operational in Western New York.Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that the latest Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services stockpile is located in a 35,000-square-foot facility in Hamburg. It joins other stockpiles pre-positioned around the state to enable state and local agencies to rapidly distribute much-needed disaster supplies.
"This stockpile improves our readiness and ability to respond when an emergency strikes," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. "When every moment is critical, vital supplies and equipment need to be in place as fast as possible, and this stockpile makes that possible."
The others are located in Plattsburgh, Queensbury, Guilderland, Binghamton, Oriskany, Montgomery, JFK Airport, Brentwood on Long Island and Chili, a Rochester suburb. Cuomo started the stockpile program after back-to-back tropical storms battered New York late in the summer of 2011.
The stockpiles include 26 light towers, 138 pumps and hoses, over 100,000 sandbags, a sand bagger, 700 cots, over 1,000 each of blankets and pillows, 88 generators, over 500 flashlights and 36,000 cans of water. It will also be utilized as a key staging location for emergency vehicles and personnel for emergency response in Western New York.
