by Bea Peterson
Residents of the Town of Hoosick and the Village of Hoosick Falls are counting their blessings after Hurricane Irene. Compared to neighboring communities such as Petersburgh, Grafton, Bennington and Troy, the Town and Village were relatively unscathed. Rain from the west fell in Hoosick on and off late Saturday afternoon and evening, then stopped. Sometime after midnight the steady rain from Irene began and was continuous until late Sunday evening. When the rain stopped, the winds picked up, though they were not as severe as anticipated.
Hoosick Falls
In Hoosick Falls there was the usual flooding that comes to the area periodically.
The ball fields on Waterworks Road were submerged, and the electrical box on Well 7 quit when it was covered with floodwater. “We’re operating on Well 3,” Water Superintendent Jim Hurlburt said on Monday. “There are no contaminates in the water,” he added. “We’re checking every few hours.” Well 6 is still down from a lightning strike on July 6. Replacement parts have yet to arrive. The new wellheads were all far above the flood level. Hurlburt said the rain gauge outside the water plant showed 9.25 inches of rain from the tropical storm.
Woods Brook caused the usual chaos for the residents of Hall Street. A sand bag barrier was in place, but water flowed over it and in another spot it was breached, flooding the same yards and basements as in previous bad storms. The Bayshore home on Richmond Avenue was flooded from Woods Brook as well. The water poured over the six foot retaining wall onto the property. That basement was one of several the Hoosick Falls Fire Dept. pumped out Sunday.
Hoosick Falls Mayor Matt Monahan said Village officials, the Police Dept, Fire Dept., Rescue Squad and Highway Dept., held an emergency preparedness meeting Friday evening in anticipation of the storm. On Sunday, the Mayor said, “Everyone did a fantastic job. They all put in a lot of hours.” The storm drain on Ball Street had to be cleared, and the Highway crew worked throughout the Village clearing other storm drains. “Luckily we never lost electricity,” said Monahan. That meant everyone with a sump pump could count on it to keep the water down and out.
Residents from Water, Superior and Lyman Streets were asked to evacuate their homes late Sunday night as the nearby Hoosic River rapidly rose. “The National Weather Service told us the River would crest about 2 am,
and the Woods Brook was flowing fast and close to the flood wall and that’s when the Rensselaer County Emergency Operation Center said we should ask people to evacuate,” said Hoosick Falls Fire Chief Robert Bornt. “Thank God nothing happened.” According to the Town of Hoosick Rescue Squad, 12 adults and six children were sheltered at the Squad House. Beds, pillows and blankets were supplied, and breakfast was provided to them before they returned to their homes on Monday. Deb Lohnes, Vice President, served as the House Manager for the organization. She organized teams, prepared and served food and kept a log of roads that sustained damaged and/or were closed. The Squad was prepared with three teams on stand-by at the time the storm hit Hoosick Falls until 6 pm Sunday, and two teams were in place Sunday night through Monday morning.
We had a busy eight to nine hours,” said Chief Bornt. “We had a dedicated crew of 15 guys who stayed for the duration.” They were on standby from 8 am and had their first call about 1 pm. They responded to 12 calls, including pump outs.
Hoosick
For a time the Hoosic River overflowed its banks when a tree came down on Route 22 at the rock cut, not far from the new Route 7 bridge. Farm fields throughout the area were flooded. Farm to Market Road had water across it at the Route 7 end. The Walloomsac River reached almost record flood level and came just short of touching the bottom of the Edward Cottrell bridge near Route 67. At one point, north of the bridge, the River stretched across the road, and the road had to be shut down for a time.
North Hoosick Fire Chief Alan Bornt said his Department had 10 or 11 calls, three were pump outs and others were for road closings. “We were lucky the power stayed on,” he said.
Hoosick Fire Chief Bill Rifenburgh said that besides removing a tree beyond the rock cut on Route 22, cows at the Wysocki farm, not far from Hoosick Falls Central School, had to be evacuated from the barn and water pumped out. He said the road near the Green Farm at Petersburgh Junction Road was also flooded and a bridge was out on Rabbit College Road. Route 22 was flooded and closed in Petersburgh. Babcock Lake Road was closed and in Boytonville Route 7 and Tamarac Road were also closed.
On the other side of town, the new boat launch on Route 67 was completely submerged and water flowed across the road and through the yards this side of the Buskirks Covered Bridge. Route 67 beyond that point was also closed Sunday afternoon.
All Hoosick Roads And Bridges Open
At the Hoosick Town Board workshop meeting on Monday evening Highway Superintendent Bill Shiland said, “All town roads and bridges are open and are fine.” He said he closed the Edward Cottrell bridge about 5 pm Sunday because the water was close to the bottom of the bridge and he was concerned that if a large tree came down the River, it would knock some of the boards out of the bridge. Sunday, he said, eight to ten town roads were impassable. By Monday the Walloomsac and Hoosick Rivers had dropped about three feet. All the roads were repaired, except for small areas, and he expected that in a day and a half all roads would be completely repaired. He said there were five or six trees down, but they had fallen on homeowner’s property and not across any roads. “We made out lucky,” he said. All things considered, Hoosick was extremely fortunate.
