I believe that the storm we had over the past couple of days will happen again, more often, as Westchester grows and develops more land and ignores the maintainence of streams, rivers, runoff basins, etc. Also, the enviromental changes of global warming will cause this to happen more (that is debatable, but I just wanted to support my point below)
Does anyone in the area have "High Water Rescue Units"? I'm talking about those huge Memphis chasis ex-Military troop carrier trucks that are high and can drive in deep flooded water. Yonkers has something similar http://www.yfd.org/images/appHaz-Mat-Support.jpg but I'm not sure what they use it for.
Along with a hovercraft and a trash pump trailer, this I feel is a neccesity for DES to obtain right away. We spend so much time preparing,training and equiping for Tech Rescue. Hazmat, etc but more common things like an event of this magnitude that's been happening more and more lately are ignored.
If they have the money to obtain the two pieces of Technical Rescue apparatus I understand they recently did, then there's more then enough money and grants to provide swiftwater training, buy a couple of hovercrafts or flat bottom aluminum rowboats, a trash pump trailer, a high water rescue vehicle, etc.
There is such duplication of services, redundancies in apparatus and equipment, it's ridiculous.
When it comes down to the bread and butter emergenices that happen frequently, we're tottally lacking the equipment we really need while our hazmat and tech rescue equipment, even our ladder trucks, collect dust.
