Matthew Avitabile, the mayor of the tiny Schoharie County village of Middleburgh, wants answers about last year's flood response from the powerful city and state agencies that operate two vast dams above the village.

Today, the village sent out a press release announcing that they had written to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the Gilboa Dam, and the New York Power Authority, which runs the Blenheim-Gilboa Dam, below New York City's dam.

The press release:

Above: A sign posted in the window of a Margaretville business in 2011 (before the Irene floods), protesting the long absence of water in the Binnekill Creek. Photo by Lissa Harris.

For the better part of a decade, the Binnekill Creek that runs through the center of Margaretville has mostly run dry. Gravel and debris has accumulated and clogged a private bulkhead where water enters the Binnekill from the East Branch of the Delaware River, and the once-sparkling stream has long been an ugly gulch of mud and rocks.

After the Irene floods last August, some work was done on the bulkhead by the town of Middletown, and for a few months, the Binnekill flowed. But the stream soon clogged up again, and is once again dry.

For the stream to flow again, the bulkhead must be dredged. But for years, landowner Lauren Davis, a retired engineer who owns the bulkhead, has been engaged in pitched battle with the village of Margaretville over how the work should proceed.

It's a year to the day since flooding from Tropical Storm Irene pummelled upstate New York. While a lot of commemorative events have already happened over the past week, the next few weeks will see more (including a picnic in Maplecrest that is underway even as we blog).

One to mark on your calendars: On September 22, Schoharie is hosting the second annual Schoharie Valley Rock 'N Roll Flood Relief Concert, featuring a lineup of bands that includes Poor Dead Molly, FlashBack,Max Violet, Chicken Hearders, Shakey Ground, Crash Coarse, Von Rudder, and a special afternoon appearance by up and coming teen country sensation Chelsea Cavanaugh.

To find more, check out our calendar of upcoming Irene anniversary events.

Above: A YouTube video from Prattsville's MudFest, held Saturday and Sunday, August 25 and 26. Video by Lance Wheeler.

Over the weekend, several Catskills towns that got whomped by the Irene and Lee floods held events timed to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the deluge.

But it was Prattsville that stole the spotlight -- by opting to ditch the somber reminiscences in favor of an all-out, gloppy, mudluscious party. MudFest, a two-day community-wide tribute to the grubby but undaunted spirit of recovery, drew plenty of reporters as well as festivalgoers.

Prattsville got a bit of welcome news just before MudFest kicked off, too; last Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an additional $500,000 in rebuilding funds for the town. The Wall Street Journal reports that although a lot still remains to be done, the town has come a long way: