PLATTSBURGH — A crew of local and state officials toured Clinton County Tuesday assessing the damage caused by heavy rains that have fallen on the area almost daily since July 1.
The damage they saw was awakening.
“We are definitely going to run into the millions of dollars of damage with all the roads washed out and the erosion,” Clinton County Legislature Chairman Mark Henry (R-Area 3, Chazy) said.
“When you look at all the damage to the infrastructure in towns and the county, it all adds up.”
LONG STRETCH
The heavy rains which stretch back to the evening of Saturday, July 1 have been steady over the past 11 days. The water has flowed over roads causing washouts of shoulders, tarmac and made many unpassable.
Water has also caused severe erosion in parts of the county and flooded basements.
The most affected areas have been in the north, northwest, west and central parts of the county. Areas such as Ellenburg, Lyon Mountain, Dannemora, Saranac and Mooers all got hit hard.
Henry was joined on the damage tour by several legislators, County Administrator Michael Zurlo, County Highway Superintendent Karl Weiss, Emergency Services Director Eric Day and Assemblyman D. Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake). State Sen. Dan Stec (R-Queensbury) joined a group on Monday.
Henry said the damage was being recorded and totaled as the county prepares its case for aid from the state and federal governments. Certain thresholds of damage must be met before a community can qualify for aid.
“We are working on that, but our position will be that we believe we have met the local level of the threshold,” Henry said.
“This has been going on (since July 1) and it has just continued.”
STATE HELP
Jones said he is working with state officials to see about aid for the county and other affected areas.
“The North Country certainly is going to need some assistance to get back to where we once were,” Jones said.
“I am actively working with our local officials on a plan to move forward, and we’ll continue to monitor flooding in Essex County and parts of Franklin County.”
Henry said many of the damaged roads have been patched up to make them passable for now, but more permanent repairs, which cost more, will be needed.
Standish Road in Saranac was one of the roads damaged the most as long stretches of road were completely washed out.
“That will take a long time to fix,” Henry said.
SOME RELIEF
Most of Tuesday was clear and sunny, bringing a brief respite from the flood damage, but more rain was forecast for later in the week.
Day said the sunshine was a bright relief.
“But even in the sunshine you can see water is still pouring out of the woods, which gives credence to the amount of rain that has fallen,” he said.
Day said that in addition to the road damage, several people have had flooded basements and needed help from local fire departments to get pumped out. One basement in Ellenburg Center actually caved in.
LAKE LEVEL
Several rivers and streams in the county are also running high and fast, but the Saranac River is still within its banks, Day said.
Also, Lake Champlain has risen in the past 10 days and was up to 96.6 feet on Tuesday and expected to rise to 97.2 feet by Friday, Day said. But that is still well below the flood level of 100 feet.
The record high water for the lake occurred in 2011 when it hit 103.2 feet.
“We won’t come close to that,” Day said.
While most of the roads that were closed have re-opened, Day urged caution when traveling.
“They’ve just been patched and filled in with gravel and they are not paved,” he said.
“People should use caution and it could be a lengthy time before they are all paved again.”