Metro

State sending food to seniors, those trapped in hi-rises: Cuomo

ALBANY – The state’s temporarily in the catering business in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Gov. Cuomo said today the state is bringing a million meals to seniors and others in hard-hit areas of the the city.

He said the National Guard, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will deliver the meals and bottled water door-to-door to parts of Lower Manhattan, the Rockaways and other affected areas in Brooklyn and Queens starting today

“After days without powers, the most immediate need for many New Yorkers is food and water and the state is working aggressively to address this need.” Cuomo said. “The first plane into JFK this morning was from FEMA, carrying supplies and personnel we requested.”

Separately, Cuomo said on Albany’s Talk 1300 AM radio that the federal Department of Defense is flying in crews, with trucks, from Arizona and California to help with cleanup and restoration work in the city.

He identified restoring power and pumping seawater out of tunnels and the subway system as “the main operations ongoing.”

Cuomo said he wouldn’t be surprised if more bodies turn up in Breezy Point on Queens or Long Beach, Long Island, two of the areas hardest hit by the Frankenstorm.

Meantime, “traffic is really terrible, and that’s aggravating the situation because you’re trying to move emergency vehicles around, you’re trying to move supplies around,” he said.

Cuomo wouldn’t take sides on whether the New York City Marathon should take place as scheduled Sunday, saying that’s a decision for “local officials.

But he did say, “It’s a balance. You want to get the (restoration) work done quickly; at same time, you don’t want to be debilitated and hurt the economy more than you have to. The Marathon is a big event.”

Cuomo also said the state is “keeping an eye” on logistics for voting in the presidential election next Tuesday but said he’s not worried about it “at this time.”

Cuomo announced that FEMA and the National Guard will work with the city and major not-for-profit organizations to establish points of distribution and set up staging stations throughout the most affected areas, with National Guardsman helping deliver about 30 tractor-trailers of the food and water by going door-to-door to New Yorkers who have been without power and electricity since Sandy hit.

He also said Guardsmen and FEMA officials will check the “wellness and needs” of individuals in those areas.

He said the state Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and the National Guard, along with city and not-for-profit officials, worked through the night to transport the meals into the region.

Cuomo is set to tour the Hugh L. Carey Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel at 1 p.m. today with federal Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Mayor Bloomberg.

Also, the state Board of Elections announced it’s extending the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot for next Tuesday’s elections to Friday following an emergency meeting late yesterday.

Applications can be mailed or faxed by Friday.

Voters can still go to their local board of elections and cast an absentee ballot in person by Monday.

The board also said voters should check elections.ny.gov or their local county board’s website for any changes in poll sites that may have been impacted by the storm.

Cuomo is also planning to visit a National Guard food distribution site at 2 p.m. today at the 69th Regiment Armory at 68 Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th streets in Manhattan.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) tweeted that emergency food and water will be distributed in Coney Island from 3 to 6 p.m. today at West 25th Street and Surf Avenue.

State Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Manhattan) announced food distribution sites at 10th Street between Avenues C and D, Catherine Street between Monroe and Cherry Streets (Smith Houses), Pitt and Houston Streets, Grand and Clinton Streets (water only) and Bowery and Division Street (Confucius Plaza).