Storm of comments on Irene at CB 10

Community Board 10 (CB) held its first monthly meeting post Hurricane Irene where residents were informed about how they can receive help after the storm’s wrath.
The community board urged homeowners to call their homeowner’s flood insurance, then file a claim with FEMA at 800-621-3362. Queens has been declared a disaster area, the board said.
“Now that we know that we have tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes in New York the trees they’ve chosen to put in our residential areas just don’t work,” said a board member who explained that shallow-rooted trees knocked down electrical poles and prompted blackouts throughout the neighborhood.
“We have more trees in Queens than any other borough,” the board member said, adding that more of the budget should be devoted to making people and property safe from trees.
Despite lingering effects, CB 10 said that 92 percent of hurricane-related problems have been taken care of. An NYPD officer told those assembled that police worked Saturday night into Sunday and described Hurricane Irene as a “wall of water.”
“I think they did a good job,” said board member Anthony Cosentino.
But board member Rosemary Ferrara was not wearing such rose-colored glasses, explaining that “some people still have problems and no one’s been down there.”
Senator Joseph Addabbo spoke about the state budget at the meeting and said that if revenue is shorter than expected, more cuts will be necessary but taxes will remain the same.