Greene County Irene update

Numbers to call:

Greene County Town and Village Supervisors numbers to use if Central County emergency numbers (518/622-3643 or 635-5115) don't work:

Greene County Town and Village Supervisors numbers to use if Central County emergency numbers (518/622-3643 or 635-5115) don't work: Ashland- 518/734-3636, Cairo 518/622-2060, Catskill 518/943-2141, Coxsackie 518/731-2727, Greenville 518/966-5055 ext 2, Halcott 845/ 254-9920, Hunter 518/589-6150, Jewett 518/263-4646 ex 2, Lexington 518/989-6476 ex 13, New Baltimore 518/756-8880, Prattsville 299-3125 ext 2, Windham 518/734-4170, Athens 518/945-1551, Vilage of Catskill 943-3830, Village of Coxsackie 518/731-2718, Village of Hunter 263-3871, Village of Tannersville 518/589-5850

Links to town -by-town updates in Greene County:

Windham

Jewett

Halcott

Prattsville

Tannersville 

Catskill (Palenville)

7:50am: From WRIP's website:

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR

THE SCHOHARIE CREEK AT BREAKABEEN. * UNTIL LATE MONDAY NIGHT. * AT 10 PM SUNDAY THE STAGE WAS 16.5 FEET. * FLOOD STAGE IS 11.0 FEET. * MODERATE FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MODERATE FLOODING IS FORECAST. * THE RIVER IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 16.8 FEET BY 2 AM MONDAY. THE RIVER IS FORECAST TO FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE AFTER 10 PM MONDAY. * IMPACT...AT 18.0 FEET...FLOODING BECOMES SEVERE WITH WIDESPREAD INUNDATION OF HOMES ROADS AND FIELDS. FORECAST FLD OBSERVED 2 AM 8 AM 2 PM 8 PM 2 AM LOCATION STG STG DAY TIME MON MON MON MON TUE BREAKABEEN 11.0 16.5 SUN 10 PM 16.8 14.9 13.2 11.5 10.0

THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR

* A PORTION OF EAST CENTRAL NEW YORK...INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREA...SCHOHARIE.

* UNTIL 8 AM EDT MONDAY

* NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OFFICIALS HAVE DECLARED A TYPE B SITUATION AT GILBOA DAM. A POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION IS DEVELOPING AT GILBOA DAM. THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR DAM FAILURE. NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OFFICIALS ARE MONITORING THE DAM. THE NEW YORK POWER AUTHORITY HAS ALSO DECLARED A TYPE B SITUATION AT THE BLENHEIM-GILBOA POWER PROJECT DAM DUE TO LOWER RESERVOIR ELEVATION AND RAPID INFLOW.

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON HAS ISSUED A FLOOD WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING RIVERS IN NEW YORK...

WEST BRANCH DELAWARE AT HALE EDDY AFFECTING DELAWARE COUNTY

EAST BRANCH DELAWARE NEAR FISHS EDDY AFFECTING DELAWARE COUNTY

ROAD CLOSURES

All bridges over the Schoharie Creek, including, but not limited to,

I-90, I-88, US 20, NY 7, NY 5S, NY 161, and NY 30 are closed due to flooding concerns.

*NY 23 localized closures Towns of Windham and Ashland

*NY 23 closed to traffic in both directions from CR 2 Prattsville to Town of Roxbury

* NY Rt. 81 from Greenville to Rt. 145 Durham closed

* NY 32 South of Cairo: both directions from Game Farm Road to NY 32A

* NY 145 closed from NY 23 in Cairo to US 20 Schoharie

* NY 42 closed from NY 23A Lexington to Ulster County line.

* NY 214 Lanesville: both directions from Saw Mill Road to NY 23A

* NY 23A in both directions from NY 32A;

Palenville to North-South Lake Road; County 18

* NY 30 in both directions from Town of Blenheim to Town of Middleburgh Line

* US 9W Catskill - bridge closed

*US 20 from NY 30A to Albany Co. line closed for flooding

* Brooksburg Rd washed out

* NY 296 near Beaches Corners Rd & 23C - bridge closed

* NY 296 in both directions from County 23C to Windham town line

* NY 296 in both directions between County 23C & Fort Hill Road in Jewett

* Mitchell Hollow Rd in Windham is closed. Use Mill St. as detour.

*Case Rd. Town Of Windham - bridge washed out

Multiple county highways and town roads are closed throughout the area.

The New York State Thruway I-87 is closed

Northbound from Ardsley (Exit 7) to Catskill (Exit 21);

Southbound from Albany (Exit 24) to Nyack (Exit 12).

GREENE COUNTY POWER OUTAGES

* Central Hudson Electric & Gas: 19416 customers offline (69%)

* New York State Electric & Gas: 2689 customers offline (59%) no estimates of restoration times were available as of 10pm

Daily Mail reporter Doron Tyler Antim published a story about the flooding across Greene County last night, saying that Prattsville and Windham seem to be the worst affected:

Torrential rainfall from Tropical Storm Irene caused record flooding in Greene County on Sunday; the Schoharie Creek overcame its banks, sending raging water through the main streets in Prattsville and Windham. The damage there is extensive.

Antrim reported that Greene County Legislator Harry Lennon said yesterday that reinforcements from the National Guard and the Naval Militia have been dispatched to Greene County to help:

He said officials were in contact with the governor’s office and the state’s Division of Military and Naval Affairs, which has announced it’s redirecting National Guardsmen, airmen and members of the Naval Militia to Greene and Schoharie counties who had been sent downstate to provide assistance there.

Ninety soldiers were assigned to Greene County; 70 airmen and 20 soldiers to Schoharie. During the afternoon, a few soldiers were seen entering the emergency control center.

The New York Times spoke with Shaun Groden, an official in Greene County, in a story published early this morning. Groden confirmed that everyone in the Prattsville motel had been rescued:

Small towns across the Catskills, including Windham, Margaretville, Tannersville, Prattsville and many others suffered devastating floods with many downtowns underwater.

“We’ve been crushed up here,” said Shaun S. Groden, the administrator for Greene County, which includes some of the flooded towns. “We have major flash floods. We have bridges that have been blown out. We have people stranded, people who have gone up to the second floor of their homes.”

Mr. Groden, the Greene County, N.Y., administrator, said the National Guard was needed to rescue 21 people who had moved to the second floor of a hotel in Prattsville. After conditions were found to be too windy for a helicopter, the Guard used Humvees and other military vehicles.

“This was a flood of historic volume,” he said. “No one remembers anything like it before.”

The website Voz iz Neias reported that most of Tannersville seems to be accounted-for:

Greene County, NY - The Greene County Emergency Operations Center has confirmed that all occupants of the flooded upstate town of Tannersville, New York, while completely without power and any sort of communications, are safe and have been accounted for.

The National Guard has been called into the area, which is located 125 miles north of New York City and has suffered severe flooding due to Hurricane Irene.

While nervous friends and relatives have been concerned about the lack of communication from their loved ones, the Greene County Emergency Operations Center has explained that neither cell phones nor land lines are operational in the area.
“People who were trapped and were in danger have been removed to a safe location,” said Dan King of the Emergency Operations Center.  “People who were not in any danger were instructed to remain in their homes.”

The area is expected to be evacuated in the morning when weather conditions improve.

10am Sunday 8/28/11:  I just called the Greene County Department of Emergency Services. The woman who answered the phone said that a state of emergency has been declared for all of Greene County at 8:43am.

The towns most affected are in the mountaintop region, including Windham, Prattsville, Jewett, and Halcott. Jewett, Halcott, and Windham had already declared a state of emergency earlier this morning. Evacuations are not being required now, but residents are reportedly making their way to higher ground.

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