Livingston Manor homes and bridges damaged by flood

Above: Flood damage in front of a house at 66 Main Street in Livingston Manor. Photo by Chris Andreola; courtesy of Livingston Manor Ink. Manor Ink writes: "This photo is of Main Street in front of old ADC Studio, also known as Chris Andreola's place, across from Will Hardware. Looks like Cattail seriously jumped its banks. Further down on Main Street, we hear CAS [Catskill Art Society] took on some water and is calling for clean up help."

Two homes and three bridges were damaged during last night's flooding in Livingston Manor, when the Cattail Creek jumped its banks and carved a new channel down Main Street.

Rockland town supervisor Edward Weitmann told the Watershed Post that the flooding was made worse by trees that fell into the creek and were swept downstream. Neither the Willowemoc nor the Little Beaverkill caused flood problems, he said.

"We had so many trees come down and block culverts and bridges that the water jumped the normal banks and went down Shandelee Road," he said.

Weitmann said that one bridge, a town-owned bridge on Hoos Street, was washed away. A county-owned bridge on Finch Street was damaged, and is out of commission while road crews work on it. A third private bridge in front of an apartment building was damaged and is closed to vehicles, but can carry pedestrians.

Aside from the bridges, all roads in the town of Rockland are currently open, although road work in some spots may be slowing traffic down.

Two houses sustained foundation damage in the flood, Weitmann said, and many basements are still being pumped out. State and county representatives are in Livingston Manor assessing the damage.

The Times Herald-Record reported this morning that a garage and a 1961 blue Corvette were also carried away by the floods, and found downstream.

Weitmann said the flooding is the worst seen in Livingston Manor since June 28, 2006, when 15-year-old Jamie Bertholf died in her house after it was swept away by the raging Cattail Creek.

"There were no injuries this time around," Weitmann said.

Update, 2:45pm: Dawn Delameter Ehlers has posted dozens of pictures of Livingston Manor flooding to a public album on Facebook. Click the link to see them.

Below: The locations of two public bridges knocked out of commission by floodwaters.

View Livingston Manor bridge damage, 9/18/2012 flood in a larger map