by David Flint
In Stephentown, Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt reported that the Town fared pretty well compared to other places nearby. No one was hurt and the Fire Department, he said, reported that they had only a couple of calls and nothing really serious. There were some power outages; they increased to something over 300 after the wind shifted and started to come out of the northwest with a bit more velocity. Although water was washing over roads in a number of places causing temporary closures, there was no widespread destruction of the roads such as had occurred in the flooding two years ago. Eckhardt said the worst hit were Bert Hager Road and Goold Road. Bert Hager road as of Wednesday was open with one lane, but Goold Road remained closed at the Kinderhook bridge.
Eckhardt sustained some considerable damage from the wind and flooding to his own farm crops, sweet corn and other vegetables, but said that he was more concerned about the plight of his farmer friends in Schoharie County.
New Lebanon
New Lebanon Town Supervisor Margaret Robertson said the Town was well prepared for trouble. The School District cooperated and was ready with buses to evacuate people to high ground if need be. A state of emergency was declared at 6 pm Saturday, and shelter facilities were made ready, but, according to Robertson, the Town “lucked out.” About 236 residences lost power, but almost all of that was back on by Monday. Rainfall, she said, was about seven inches, not as much as in areas to the north. There were comparatively minimal road issues, not much above what would be expected from a very bad rain storm. Robertson praised Highway Superintendent Jeff Winestock and his crew who started working at 3:30 am Sunday and worked all day keeping things under control. Flooding occurred mainly in West Lebanon. Adams Crossing Road was closed as was County Route 9 for a short period. Route 20 conditions were bad near the race track, but that road was never actually closed down in New Lebanon. Some trees came down, but there was not nearly enough damage to qualify for applying for FEMA funds.
As of Wednesday afternoon Robertson reported that all roads were open with Winestock and the Highway Department busy doing repair work on some of them.
