Above: "Catskill Snow Storm in October" by Francine Barbet. Image via barbetart.com.

Seventy-eight-year-old Francine Barbet was killed in the Greene County town of Jewett on Friday, Feb. 26 when she walked with her dog into the path of an oncoming Jeep around 6:30 p.m., police say.

Barbet was walking her dog at Beecher's Corners, the intersection of Route 296 and County Road 23C, while wearing dark clothing, according to a Daily Mail article.

Left: Francine Barbet. Image via barbetart.com. 

As she walked into the southbound lane of Route 296, she was hit by 65-year-old Joseph Disanti of the Long Island hamlet of Shirley, who was driving a 2004 Jeep, according to a press release from the New York State Police.

Above: Local fire companies stationed at Smokin Boars BBQ on Route 28 in Phoenicia on Thursday evening, Feb. 25. Photo by Lissa Harris.

Smokin Boars BBQ, a new barbecue restaurant that opened three months ago in the Ulster County hamlet of Phoenicia, caught on fire on Thursday, Feb. 25, police and witnesses say.

The fire began around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, according to Chad Storey, the chief of the Shandaken Police.

Storey said that someone driving by the plaza on Route 28 where Smokin Boars is located noticed "a huge columm of smoke" rising up from behind the building.

The driver stopped and informed one of the neighboring business owners in the plaza, who called 911, Storey said.

The Phoenicia Fire Department was on the scene until 10 p.m., Storey said. The fire was put out relatively quickly, and the rest of the businesses in the plaza were spared any major damage, he said. 

"There is some smoke damage to the other business, but no other damage," he said.

Phoenicia Fire Chief Gary Carr did not immediately return a call for comment on the fire.

Above: The Walton fairgrounds flooded on Thursday, Feb. 25. Photo via the Walton Reporter's Facebook page.

The heavy rains that fell across the Catskills on Wednesday, Feb. 24 and through the night into Thursday, Feb. 25 have caused minor, localized flooding across the region.

The West Branch of the Delaware River is flooding several towns along its banks on Thursday morning, including the towns of Hamden and Walton, according to hydrographs and eyewitness reports. 

In Hamden, Basin Clove Road in is closed from Route 10 to the intersection of Back River Road due to water across the roadway, according to the Delaware County Department of Emergency Services.

In Walton, muddy floodwaters have covered the county fairgrounds, according to the Walton Reporter. Flooding in Walton was predicted to peak around 11 a.m. at 10 feet, according to Walton's hydrograph. Flood stage for the West Branch of the Delaware River in Walton is 9.5 feet, according to a flood warning alert issued by the National Weather Service in Binghamton. 

Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties are under a hazardous weather outlook warning for flooding through Thursday evening, according to NWS Binghamton and NWS Albany. The weather service reports that "widespread river flooding is not expected" in those counties. 

There was minor flooding of the Schoharie Creek in the town of Prattsville on Wednesday evening, according to the river's hydrograph, but waters have already fallen well below flood stage on Thursday morning. 

The Esopus Creek in Ulster County was under a flood warning on Wenesday and Thursday issued by NWS Albany. The Esopus overspilled its banks at 20.51 feet on Wednesday evening in Mount Marion, according to the Mount Marion hydrograph, and had dropped back to 19 feet by 11 a.m. on Thursday morning.

In Cold Brook, the Esopus crested 12.39 feet on Wednesday night, a level where water overflows the creek's banks above the Ashokan's Reservoir but causes little damage, according to the Cold Brook hydrograph. The water level at Cold Brook has also dropped down quickly on Thursday morning. 

Above: A poster from New York State's campaign to raise awareness about heroin addiction. New York State passed legislation to fund a heroin addiction awareness and treatment campaign in 2014. Photo via combatheroin.ny.gov. 

As a heroin epidemic spreads across the the Catskills, the topic of opioid addiction is driving politics in the region.

In the last two weeks, 13 people have been arrested in six major heroin busts in the Catskills. Two of the people arrested were teachers in Sullivan County schools.

Politicians and local officials are responding to heroin’s growing presence in the Catskills with task forces, hearing and calls for funding. They are also making opioids a central issue in the race for New York’s 19th congressional district seat, which covers the Catskills and the Hudson Valley in New York.

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