Severe damage to the county highway system due to a series of heavy rains and flash flooding has left the county with a bill that now totals more than $3 million after the county was forced to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday, July 23.
And, County Emergency Management Director Bill VanHoesen says he doesn’t think Schenectady County’s damage total pooled with other counties across the state who also registered damage will meet the federal threshold of $23 million needed to collect federal relief funds.
But, VanHoesen said the county will still attempt to become part of a statewide declaration in search of those funds.
He said his department is already facing difficult financial times where contingency dollars are few and far between.
`This is going to take a whack on the county budget,` said VanHoesen.
The county isn’t the only budget that might be hurting. Towns along with individual property holders on the western end of the county are also assessing damage and the costs of repairs.
Rotterdam Deputy Supervisor Joe Signore said he knew of at least six homeowners who couldn’t even get into their homes at the height of storms on Saturday, July 26, and Sunday, July 27.
Signore said a culvert gave out under Crawford Road, causing severe damage to the shoulder of the road. County crews closed the road on Thursday, July 24, to excavate the old culvert and make repairs.
Signore also said that a major thoroughfare in Rotterdam Junction, Route 5S, was temporarily washed out. He said the town is still assessing the flood’s financial ramifications.
In Duanesburg, Supervisor Rene Merrihew said six or seven town roads washed out and were in need of major repairs. She cited severe damage to the village of Delanson’s well ` a major source of water for the village ` as most critical.
County workers continue their attempts to save a culvert running beneath Old Route 30 on the boarder of Duanesburg and Esperance in Schoharie County. The culvert became clogged during heavy storms, causing a Schoharie Creek tributary to sweep away a large swath of road surface.
The county will also continue sending crews to other areas of the county including Princetown and Glenville. VanHoesen called Wolf Hollow Road in Glenville `a disaster.`
At the height of the storm on Wednesday, July 23, road closures were reported in Rotterdam, Princetown, Duanesburg and Glenville.
The damage included washed out roads and loss of major drainage structures. More than 100 houses also lost access to county roadways.
DOT Spokesman Peter Van Keuren said state crews had to make emergency repairs on Route 160 after a malfunctioning drainage pipe caused major flooding near the Thruway overpass on Sunday, July 27. He said the crew also had to do cleanup work to remove a thick layer of debris that surfaced during the flood.
`We don’t yet know what are costs are,` said Van Keuren. `We have secured partial funding and were may need more funding.`
VanHoesen said that the county had reopened all but four of its roads by press time. He warned drivers to continue caution, especially while traveling roads with noticeable shoulder damage.
`There’s a tremendous amount of shoulder damage and in some places there’s no shoulder at all,` said VanHoesen. `If you pull off the road, you’ll go right down into a deep ditch.`
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