Preston Hollow Irene update

Watershed correspondent and veteran disaster reporter Marty Rosen visited Preston Hollow, New York, today. Preston Hollow is a town of about 250 in a westward corner of Albany County, just on the border of Schoharie and Greene counties on Route 145. The community is on Catskill Creek, which flooded disastrously at 10am on Sunday. Rosen talked to residents and filed this report:

Preston Hollow, NY - Valerie Lounsbury, 61, surveys the receding Catskill Creek behind her flooded home Tuesday. The flash flood struck at 10 a.m. Sunday, as her family packed keepsakes in her basement. "The stream came up all of a sudden. There were rocks. Boulders. Just all coming at me," she said. "Truthfully, it's the most horrible thing I've ever seen."

Sheila Cooke and her husand, Dwight, wait for FEMA to arrive. Every home was flooded and most of the hamlet's 250 residents are staying with relatives who live on higher ground. The creek rose up over Route 145, dumping mud and debris in the house her husband's family has owned since the 1800s. "We saw trees, everything, in that water. People's lives went down that creek." Many homeowners said they don't have insurance and don't know how they'll rebuild.

Outside the home of Sheila and Dwight Cooke.

The Cooke's children inside the family home. "We're just watching the mold creep up the wall," said son Dwight.