'Historic' rainfall overwhelms New York roads, forces evacuations

Epic rainfall of nearly 9 inches over 24 hours washed out and collapsed roads in the Hudson Valley, halted passenger and freight rail service, forced evacuations and resulted in the death of a woman who tried to flee her home as floodwaters closed in, state officials said Monday.

“This was a frightening, life-threatening experience,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a storm briefing Monday morning on a muddy street in Highland Falls, one of the hardest hit areas.

Surrounded by local, state and military officials, Hochul described a “historic” amount of rain that sent “cars swirling in our streets” and “devastated” communities through the valley.

“You only need to walk through the streets to see the pain in people’s eyes,” the governor said.

She said it was the second time in history the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the area.

“Nine inches of rain in this community,” Hochul said. “They’re calling this a ‘1,000-year event.’”

Other areas of New York were hit hard, too — counties south of Rochester, north of Syracuse and along Lake Champlain were under state of emergency declarations.

Meanwhile, bridge inspection teams from Long Island and across the state are being deployed to Mid-Hudson and Finger Lakes regions.

Among the crews are 23 Department of Transportation bridge inspection teams from the Island, Capitol Region, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley who will work with private contractors to assess the safety of bridges, state officials said on Monday. Additionally, 10 assessment teams from throughout the state will examine the damage caused by the flooding to state and local roads.

In Highland Falls, Hochul said DOT crews will assess whether roads, bridges and culverts have been compromised even if they may appear to be clear for passage.

"People needed to get to hospitals and doctors and get to their jobs," she  said. "... But we have to make sure that before we open up all the roads, that our infrastructure is safe and sound."

Other Northeast states suffered damage as well. In Vermont, more than a dozen people had to be rescued by boat, according to reports. Weston and Londonderry, two towns in the southern end of the Green Mountains, were inaccessible.

Gov. Phil Scott said Vermont hadn't seen this type of flooding since 2011 when Tropical Storm Irene dumped 11 inches of rain in 24 hours, destroying 500 miles of roads and 200 bridges in the state. 

In New York's Hudson Valley, Amtrak, Metro North and CSX freight all had service interruptions. Metro North officials said the flooding washed out tracks along the Hudson Line north of Croton-Harmon. Partial service was restored Monday.

State Police evacuated more than 700 train passengers in Putnam County. About 90 rail passengers spent the night inside the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station. 

Roads were closed in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties. Flights were canceled at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports.

There has been one reported fatality: a 35-year-old Orange County woman whose house was being surrounded by water.

The force of the flooding dislodged boulders that rammed her house, officials said.

She “came out, seeing her house was taking on too much water,” Hochul said. “Was with her dog and her fiance, [who] literally saw her swept away.”

The woman’s remains were found at the bottom of a ravine, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said.

Neuhaus described scenes of cars abandoned along State Route 9W on the west side of the Hudson River, with a section of the road collapsed between Cornwall and West Point, home of the U.S. Military Academy. He said a local wastewater treatment plant “had been compromised.”

Neuhaus said he probably couldn’t give an accurate number of distress calls local officials handled.

“This morning, we had 50 calls that were significant, but I think many more were just not reported,” Neuhaus said. “I think the number of calls, you can’t even count at this point.”

West Point personnel assisted with home rescues, including at an apartment complex for seniors, Hochul said.

“Not going to foreign lands to save people but right here in their own backyard,” Hochul said.

The military academy itself was hit with 8 inches of rain that sent debris on to campus roads and washed out others. Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland told the Associated Press that recently arrived new cadets and others at the historic academy on the Hudson River were safe, but that assessing the damage will take time.

The governor announced a state of emergency for Orange County, and officials also were seeking a similar federal declaration to expedite aid and assistance.

The storm already has wrought tens of millions of dollars in damage, officials said.

On Monday afternoon, Hochul gave an update from Canandaigua, southeast of Rochester, where 13 people had been rescued by boat. 

The range of the storm was demonstrated by the patchwork emergency declarations, with some counties pounded by rain and others lightly soaked. 

For example, Oswego County, along Lake Ontario, was added to the emergency list after receiving 3 inches of rain in 90 minutes, the governor said.

Moving east, Clinton and Essex counties, along Lake Champlain, also were added to the list. At one point, about 13,000 homes in the state lost power, though many had been restored by Monday afternoon.

“It seems like the worst has passed in terms of the volume coming down," Hochul said of the rain. "But now our job is to make sure that the roads and the bridges are passable."

With John Valenti and The Associated Press

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy