Above: Minor flash flooding sent water streaming across Franklin-Walton Road in Walton early Friday evening. Photo by Tina Burghart Kokoszka; used with permission.

With the Mohawk Valley reeling from severe flooding caused by recent rainstorms, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a disaster declaration for 15 upstate New York counties, including Delaware and Schoharie. 

In Schoharie County, the town and village of Middleburgh have also declared a state of emergency.

Rainstorms pounded the region on Thursday and Friday, but the Catskills escaped major flooding, with only a few minor flash floods on local roads. 

Above: A Poughkeepsie Journal video about the re-opening of the newly restored Rosendale Trestle.

Rail trail lovers, rejoice: On Saturday, June 29, the Rosendale Trestle, a 118-year-old span over the Rondout Creek, will be reopened to public walking access, thanks to the restoration efforts of the Wallkill Valley Land Trust and the Open Space Institute.

Trail fans will be celebrating the reopening of the bridge at Willow Kiln Park on Saturday, with live bluegrass, a silent auction, a yard sale, and tie-dyeing "Track The Trestle" T-shirts. Or, if you like, you can join the throngs on the bridge, marveling at the views of Joppenburgh Mountain and the Shawangunk Ridge and basking in the cool 55-degree air rising up from the Rondout Creek, 150 feet below your feet.

Two years after the Irene and Lee floods ravaged the Schoharie Valley, there's still a lot of work to be done to make the valley whole.

But there's also a lot to celebrate: Across the region, farmers' fields that were torn up by floodwaters are now green and growing again. On Saturday, June 29, Albany chefs and Schoharie Valley farmers team up at the Carrot Barn in Schoharie for an Irene recovery fundraiser that celebrates not only the region's resilience, but its top-notch produce.

The event, dubbed "Bounty of the County," will feature a six-course dinner prepared by top-notch chefs from the Albany Chefs' Food and Wine Festival. On the menu, as the name suggests, will be fruit, vegetables, local meat and more from Schoharie Valley farms, each of which took a beating from Irene and lived to tell the tale. Ingredients will be sourced from Schoharie Valley Farms, Barber's Farm, Wellington's Herbs and Spices, Bohringer's Fruit Farm, Shaul Farms, Mariaville Farms, West Wind Acres, Parson's Farm, and Sunnycrest Orchards.

Andes's newest business is looking pretty green. Photo by "Story Laurie" McIntosh, who writes: "Morena of Grayson's Organics, selling fresh garlic scapes, salad greens and baby garlic to Annette, a happy customer. The farm store is at 27 Delaware Ave., Andes, NY (2 doors up from the blinking light). She'll be open Thur-Sat ~11-6 (except [today]. sorry), and will also have lots of herbs to sell...and soon Mexican food, good coffee...and more good stuff! Go meet Morena & buy some greens."

Good morning, Catskills! 

On tap for today: More rain. The weather geeks at Hudson Valley Weather are getting excited today about "orographic lift" -- a phenomenon that involves clouds cooling down and releasing rain as they are pushed up the sides of mountains. Guess which mountains they're talking about.