Tropical Storm Irene wrought destruction all over the state, and while many places are certainly worse off, the Town of Bethlehem wasn’t spared from the storm’s fury.
Town officials said it will be some time before a price tag can even be put on the damage, which has affected large swaths of municipal infrastructure. In the days following the storm, town workers and engineers have been trying to get a handle on things, said Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Public Works Erik Deyoe.
“Some of the facilities can’t really even be seen at this point because of the water level, particularly some of the sewer facilities,” he said.
What’s clear is the town’s water facilities in New Scotland have taken a brutal hit. Water flowed over an emergency spillway at the Vly Creek Reservoir, eroding the surrounding lands. On the Onesquethaw Creek, a similar set of circumstances on a diversion dam has made it so that runoff actually bypasses the dam through newly formed paths. Roads to this area were also washed out, compounding the difficulty of making repairs.
The town’s wastewater treatment plant became clogged with debris at the height of the storm, causing a manhole cover on the inflow to the plant to blow off when the system backed up. The plant is back in operation now, though repairs will likely have to be made to the sewer system once the water level goes down.
In South Bethlehem, an old railroad bridge on state land near the landfill will likely have to be removed after a raging river damaged its abutment.
As is the case across the state, a lot of the town’s infrastructure damage was caused by water, not winds.
“We were at historically high [rainfall] levels to begin with, then we just threw a hurricane on top of it,” Deyoe said.
The town’s Henry Hudson Park in Selkirk also sustained some damage. The fishing pier took a beating but is still there despite the Hudson flowing up into the park, and a tree crashed through the roof of a pavilion, said Administrator of Parks and Recreation Nan Lanahan. Additionally, the whole park up through the softball fields is now covered in mud.
“The park is open, it’s just not really usable right now with all of the muddy conditions,” Lanahan said.
A silver lining in the devastation is the town’s roads. Highway Superintendent Gregg Sagendorph said the state-, county- and town-owned roads escaped damage beyond a few shoulders washing out. The department’s still focusing on cleaning up all the debris the storm created, though, to the extent it will impact paving plans for the year.
“I don’t want to say we’ve suspended the program, but we’ve sure put it on the back burner,” Sagendorph said.
Bethlehem residents are asked to pile branches at the side of the road for collection and heed any road closures that might still be in effect.
President Barack Obama has declared many areas of the Northeast disaster areas, including Albany County. That opens the door to federal disaster aid, but the process is just getting under way. Even then, it can take years for municipalities to collect checks in these instances, and federal relief rarely covers the full pricetag for recovery.
Some estimated put the hurricane’s U.S. damage as high as $1 billion. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently put the damage in New York at $1 billion.
Residents who suffered damage in the storm may also qualify for federal assistance. To apply for Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) aid, visit disasterassistance.gov.
