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July 19, 2006
Flood Picture Essay Part 3
Okay, the clean up job of yesterday is now complete. I just watched the town pick up and haul off the fruites of my labors. And the rest of the day was spent doing inventory. So now on with the story.
Saturday 7-1-2006 The flood waters crest on the Susquehanna River.
When I left off the East Sidney Lake had finally crested and the water was running over the spillway for the first time in its history sence it was built in 1936.
This caused the third spike in water levels. Adding another 2 feet to the river. It also caused another wave of evacuations in the town. Adding about another 75 - 100 people to the center. Of course others had people who they could go stay with, so there were a lot more evacuees than who we saw.
On top of the problem of water was two others, causing some to be evacuated even though the water didn't get closer than 100 feet from their homes. One was that the sewage treatment plant in Oneanta failed and dumped close to 35,000 tons of raw sewage. The other was that in the middle of the village of Sidney is a manufacture that uses some very toxic materials. And it was under 3 feet of water on the inside.
Sidney Amphenol Corp.
Here the water has dropped a foot or more from crest. Notesible as the dark spot on the telephone poll.
The only good thing was that the waters carried much of what leaked away from the village proper. I feel for those down stream though.
Heres some pictures that give a good view of what the town looked like.
To give you a idaea of the water level, the ramps in the foreground are in a parking lot about 2 feet up from the banks parking lot and they stand another 3 feet. That puts the water on the doors at about 4 and a half feet, down from the crest in this picture of about 5 feet.
Here is an overview of the town or about half of the lower portion of it. The brown waters of the mighty Suquhanna can be seen running around the buildings.
Of course villigers wern't the only ones that were affected. Animals that couldn't make it to higher ground sought refuge where they could.
These buildings were deemed unsafe after the waters receded, displacing businesses and people who rented the upstairs apartments.
This is Division St. about half way up our Main St. The water here was running at about 20 MPH. No drinking at this bar today!
Flood Picture Essay Part 4: Monday 7-4-2006 Clean up starts.
Flood Picture Essay Part 5: Aftermath and life goes on.
Posted by derstaffo at July 19, 2006 07:36 AM
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