The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

Hoosick Falls And Surrounding Area Continue To Recover From Last Week’s Floods

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Village Ballfields Are Vandalized

By Doug La Rocque

The heavy rainfall on July First caused extensive flood damage in the Village of Hoosick Falls, the Town of Hoosick and surrounding communities. [Private] Most of the Village streets turned into raging torrents of water, and large holes in the ground were scoured out by the water. Several houses were badly damaged by the water. The Immaculate Conception Church basement was flooded, causing extensive damage.
Deep water cascades down Spring Street during the storm. Photo by Steve Bradley

There was also extensive damage along Route 7 between the Route 22 intersection and the Pittstown line. Part of the Route 7 roadway was washed away in some sections, leaving only a single lane passable.

Church Street became a river during the rainstorm, as torrents of water flowed past the HAYC3 Armory.
Photo by Steve Bradley

Tory Hill Road in Hoosick near the Pittstown line remains closed, with a giant hole in it. The main entrance road to Hoosac School was washed away, and the school almost lost its pond. Only four feet of land remained holding Tibbits Pond from roaring down the hill. Water coming off the hill behind the Hoosick Falls Central School got into the elementary gym and several classrooms, damaging the floors.

One thing that got a lot of attention was the impact of the raging flood waters on the Hoosick Falls Softball and Baseball Fields.  It threatened to cancel the long running summer tournaments, but some outstanding work by the teams, their families and members of the community made the fields playable again in time for the Saturday contests.  This no sooner got underway, when rains again fell and caused a one-day postponement.  Now the league reports that late this past Sunday night or early Monday morning, someone broke into the concession stand, damaged two doors and stole about $100 worth of candy.  The vandals also left a hose running, in an apparent attempt to re-flood field # 1.  Hoosick Falls Police continue to look into the incident.
The pavement on Spring Street was thoroughly wrecked by the torrents of water. Photo by Steve Bradley
League President Ted Senecal expressed his thanks to everyone who helped repair the fields, and said, “Hoosick Falls is a tough community – we will pull together and get through it.”  The same sentiment was expressed by Village Mayor Rob Allen, who tells The Eastwick Press “a lot of the response was based on the people around me and the agencies that came in and helped out.  They were incredible, their response was impeccable.  It was solid, it was timely and based upon experience, good decisions all around.”
According to the Mayor, of the most immediate concern is making sure the Woods Brook doesn’t pose another imminent threat.  He said the highway department has been working to clear some of the path of debris, getting a sense of how the brook is doing in its course throughout the village.  He also indicated they have enlarged the embankment in some spots.
A section of sidewalk ended up four feet or more below street level at a spot on upper Church Street where a large volume of water crossed the road. Photo by Steve Bradley
Congressman John Faso, State Senator Kathy Marchione, Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin joined County Executive Kathy Jimino on a tour of the flood damaged areas last week, to see what forms of state and federal aid may be available.  Allen said however, “most of those things take time, it’s just unfortunately the nature of the beast.  Right now, they are trying to crunch numbers, and we are trying to help them to see what the quantifiable cost of the storm was.”
Since it was the same storm that impacted Central New York, causing flooding in the City of Utica, these cost numbers can be combined in an attempt to qualify for federal disaster aid.  Besides Hall Street and downtown portions of Hoosick Falls, the storm created some serious problems along Route 7, as well as town and county roads in Hoosick, Pittstown, Petersburgh and to a lesser degree in Grafton and Brunswick.
On Monday July 3, a number of politicians visited The Village to see for themselves the damage done by the heavy rains. In the picture are, left to right, Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, Congressman John Faso, Hoosick Falls Mayor Rob Allen, and Deputy County Executive Chris Meyer. Photo by Steve Bradley.
Mayor Allen said for the most part, life in the village is returning to normal, but “in terms of those people who had the devastating damage, they are still facing a long way back.  The unfortunate side of this is most people who were affected don’t have flood insurance, and I have yet been unable to find a good answer for them.  I am pursuing every avenue that has been laid out for me by every agency to find funding.  But I don’t know what the answer for them is yet, and that’s very sad.”
The village just recently received a grant to study the Woods Brook, and ways to possibly divert its path.  Mayor Allen said the pictures and video of the flooding will lend credence to their requests for more funding, “but that is still something that is a long term solve.” [/Private]