Ulster County declares state of emergency due to winter storm

ULSTER COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan has declared a state of emergency for the county due to the current winter storm. This comes hours after Kingston declared their own state of emergency due to a massive power outage from the storm.

"With near unprecedented numbers of tree limbs, trees, and power lines down, and nearly half of our residents without power, I am declaring a state of emergency in Ulster County. I have committed county resources to provide critical emergency services and to clear our roadways safely and efficiently," said Ryan.

Kingston currently has a temporary warming center set up for residents at the Kingston City Hall Common Council Chambers. Additional warming centers have been set up in the Andy Murphy Center in Kingston, New Paltz at the SUNY New Paltz Elting Gymnasium and Saugerties at the Frank D. Greco Memorial Senior Citizen Recreation Center. Those centers open at 5 p.m.

All non-emergency county offices and services (excluding emergency and weather-essential personnel and services) are closed for the day. The state of emergency is in effect until 8 a.m. on February 5.

Ryan is encouraging residents to stay off the roads. He said vehicle traffic on county roads should be limited to essential services and emergency vehicles.

According to the Central Hudson outage map, there are currently more than 45,000 customers without power throughout the county.