“We should not lose sight that there are people still living in shelters that have no home to go home to,” Hein said, adding that the recovery “will be measured in months, not days or hours.”
Geysers, and lots of pumping
While Kingston did not get hit as hard as other Ulster locales, there was plenty of flooding and power outages. Oh, and a geyser sprang up on Washington Avenue. “It shot pretty well high into the air,” said a surprised Kingston Assistant Fire Chief Chris Rea. “We can’t determine what caused it. The amount of rain — it might have just been the system was overwhelmed or too old, and this was the result of it. The DPW workers on the radio said it was about 75 feet in the air.”
Rea said Uptown got the worst of the flooding. “Uptown always prone to flooding. From Washington Avenue to going up Main Street and Pearl Street, toward Janet and Emerson,” Rea said. The moving water was moving right on through though.”
Clogged culverts were not an issue, Rea said, “but the system itself was overwhelmed and backed up with water. Yesterday, by mid-afternoon, everything was downed and drained. We were pumping the basements and water wasn’t creating any extra problems.”
Rea said the fire department performed something like 300 or 400 pump-outs of flooded basements, starting Sunday morning at 2 a.m., through at least Tuesday.
“We attempted to prioritize it by pumping water endangering the heaters or utilities. We shut the electric boxes or informing residents to shut electric boxes,” said Rea. “We actually had a list of 17 pages of names and addresses to follow up with whoever had problems.”
The city got help from pretty far away — firefighters and gear coordinated by the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control from Buffalo, Akron, N.Y., Valatie and Red Rock assisted.
On Main, Janet and Emerson streets, Rea reported that the fire department was just literally going “door to door to door, it was so bad.”
Rea said there were some issues with erosion. “DPW is still removing trees around Wilbur Avenue — it’s a notorious area for trees and a couple brooks that run down there where you’re looking at erosion.”
Schools escape major damage
Considering how hard Irene hit other communities in the area, the Kingston City School District is feeling very fortunate right now. According to Superintendent Gerard Gretzinger, the largest district in Ulster County sustained primarily minor damage.
