Clarksville resident Rob Breen considers himself one of the lucky ones.
Tropical Storm Irene caused him a flooded basement that he said is still drying out, and enough water running into his yard to create a “mini Grand Canyon” that split his property in two, but Breen was able to escape the storm with a relatively small amount of damage.
Breen, a professor at Siena College, moved to Clarksville 18 months ago with his family. He immediately took interest in the work done by the Onesquethaw-Coeymans Watershed Council, a group that examines issues within the watershed in areas like South Bethlehem, Feura Bush, Selkirk, New Scotland and Clarksville. He’s helped to organize a community meeting Nov. 30 for residents of the area who are concerned with flooding problems in the watershed.
“When Irene and Lee came in, it did some real serious damage,” said Breen. “It put a whole lot more water into the area than the area had been able to handle.”
Residents will have a chance at the meeting to share their stories, express their opinions about what needs to be done and assist in forming a response plan that could help prevent the type of damage that occurred in early September.
“There’s some concern because government agencies, whether at the state or local level, don’t have the resources the equipment or the jurisdiction to get out to private properties and do cleanup work,” said Breen.
Bethlehem town officials are still collecting information about the total damage done by the significant tropical storms. They are working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to apply for federal funding for repairs and infrastructure upgrades. As those discussions continue, Breen has more immediate concerns.
“We’ve got a lot of huge trees that are down, that are just blocking the channel of the (Onesquethaw) creek,” said Breen. “Whenever there’s going to be another high water event, if we get another serious rain storm, it’s going to cause flooding. There’s no plan or strategy to deal with this.”
Breen is working with Ciara Gannon, a senior from the New York City area who is taking an independent study course with Breen.
“The main goal is to have people listen to each other and have a common ground,” said Gannon. “My goal is to have a community effort where people work together, maybe on a Saturday, to go and volunteer, and clean up some trees that are blocking water flow, or clean out some things that might have flowed down creek.”
Breen said that there is often a feeling of skepticism regarding help from the local or state level, and talked about the positives of getting people in a community more aware of what can be done without passing a piece of legislation. He cautioned that many people don’t have the resources they need to make their own repairs along with the work to prevent major flooding.
“They’re putting the resources back in to replace some of their items that they lost, or getting some structural stuff done on their houses,” Breen said. “They don’t have any money or resources or equipment to go into the creek and do creek restoration, let alone the technical expertise.”
The community dialogue organized by the Onesquethaw-Coeymans Watershed Council will be held Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m. at the CSX Auditorium in Selkirk. The meeting will last approximately two hours and is open to the public. For more information or to RSVP for the meeting, call Rob Breen at 783-2399, or visit www.ocwatershed.org.
