Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’s already making preparations, in case Hurricane Joaquin hits New York state full force in the coming days.
Cuomo says he’s staffing up emergency operations centers, notifying National Guard offices that they might have to be deployed, and having work crews clear any trouble spots known to be prone to flooding.
The preparations are ongoing even though the track of the storm is still somewhat uncertain.
“I have learned the hard way that it is better to prepare for the worst,” said Cuomo, who has, as governor, faced three major hurricane-type storms, Sandy, Irene and Lee, as well as a seven-foot snowfall in western New York and multiple tornadoes in central New York.
“In the past we did not take the worst case scenario into consideration and we paid the price,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo says the state is much better prepared with new seawalls, four miles of barriers, submarine doors at some tunnels and hundreds of new generators -- including generator powered pumping stations. But the governor cautions that “you never know” how a storm will play out, and concedes, “you cannot be ready for everything."
