ELDRED, NY — “It was an inauspicious start to the month… ” Highland Supervisor Jeff Haas began at the opening of the March 13 town board meeting. “…I’ll be looking forward to the lamb.”

Highland was ending its second week of recovery from the March 1-2 storm that produced a foot or more of heavy wet snow, a reported 109 mph wind gust at the new federal weather station outside Eldred, and scores of trees downed. It essentially shut down every manmade service for five days in Eldred and longer in the other hamlets and along the side roads.

Thank-you messages dominated the monthly correspondence. Thanks to deputy town clerk Alice Foster and councilwoman Kaitlin Haas for their time and efforts at the town hall warming station, where a dozen people slept and hot food for the homeless and the rescuers was provided. There was a note from Doreen and Dave Wilcox, who were stranded on the road between Maine and Scranton and spent a night at the town hall. “Thanks for everything. We’ll never forget you.”

Supervisor Haas, his wife Leanne and their family all worked long hours at the hall during emergency. Resident Pete Carmeci credited Haas’ leadership. “You stepped up, did what was needed and came out shining like a star.”

Haas thanked his wife, credited all of the town’s employees and board members, the Yulan and Highland Lake fire departments, the American Legion Ambulance Service, Sullivan County, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “The storm threw the town upside-down… A task force was set up. We dealt with it head-on, working as one… I’m so proud of all the people who came out to help.”

Highway Superintendent Tom Ebers did not attend. Haas said Ebers had been called out at midnight Monday by a Spectrum repairman who needed to restore phone service, so Ebers plowed and sanded Dry Brook Road.

While those who could donated, Haas said he expected the financial impact would be steep; “tens of thousands… there will be some reimbursement because of the state disaster declaration.” He said New York’s two U.S. Senators were pushing for a federal declaration. “I hope they get it.”

Councilwoman Haas reported on the town’s emergency services. She too credited everyone’s willingness to help. “Nobody balked at anything they were asked to do. We never ran short of help or supplies, and we had a lot law enforcement support.”

If there was a sour note, she said it was the immediate response, or lack of it, by power provider NYSEG. “We’ve held their response to task, she said. Formerly an independent company, NYSEG more recently was acquired by Avangrid, which serves customers in New York, Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts. While the company had issued a March 1 email titled, “We’re ready!” the actuality was somewhat different.

Supervisor Haas said his calls to NY SEG over the weekend drew assurances of imminent power restoration, but nothing happened. Then on March 3, Gov. Cuomo called out national guardsmen from the Binghamton area, who began the reopening of Route 97. As the new week began, a swarm of big blue Hydro Quebec utility trucks appeared, and by March 7, Eldred’s lights returned and a “merci” sign appeared in front of the Eldred Library. Barryville’s power returned on March 9, and on March 10, NYSEG issued a statement that “nearly all” of 203,000 affected customers had their power restored. No local outages remained on the utility’s website outage map as of March 20.