New York is just beginning to recover from Hurricane Irene. there has been widespread devastation, especially in the Catskills and Hudson Valley. WAMC's Dave Lucas has an update...

Greene County was devastated by irene - massive flood damage destroyed roads and bridges - Harry Sacco in the town Highway Superintendent's office in Catskill says crews are out restoring as much infrastructure as humanly possible. Wes Gillingham, program director for the advocacy group Catskill Mountain Keeper, says many farms suffered extensive damage and many farm animals perished during and after the storm.

Central Hudson spokesman John Maserjian explains the utility has restored electricty to about 85 per cent of more than 180-thousand customers who lost service as a result of Irene. Maserjian notes that the utility will reach out to customers individually and will begin providing dry ice and water to needy customers out of designated distribution points -

Dry ice and water will be distributed by Central Hudson on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 3 p.m. at the following locations:

- Cairo

Angelo Canna Park

Mountain Ave., Cairo (adjacent to Greene County Office of Emergency Preparedness)

- Saugerties

Cantine Sports Complex,10 Pavilion St. (off Washington Ave.), Saugerties, 12477

Central Hudson will also provide dry ice and water to the following municipalities that will distribute it at the following locations:

- Accord

Town of Rochester Comm. Center

Tobacco Rd. Accord, 12404

Noon

- Stone Ridge

Marbletown Elementary School

12 Pine Bush Rd, Stone Ridge, NY 12484

Noon

- Warwarsing

Napanoch Firehouse

25 Plank Rd, Napanoch, NY 12458

Noon

- Woodstock

Town of Woodstock Comm. Center

Rock City Rd., Woodstock, NY, 12498

Noon

Central Hudson officials continue to warn local residents that serious flooding conditions also have the potential to undermine the stability of underground pipelines; they remind customers who may see damage in the vicinity of pipelines and/or who may smell the odor of natural gas to report the condition via the utility's Gas Odor Hotline: 1-800-942-8274. Customers may call Central Hudson's PowerLine at (845) 452-2700 or 1-800-527-2714 to report their power condition.

Orange County officials have released a schedule for disaster debris collection - its posted on orange county gov dot com.