The Wilbur Avenue creek bed, one of the hardest-hit areas in the city, was restored and stabilized and the road finally re-opened, he said. Brush pick-up has been ongoing, as have bulk pick up in the unfortunate, affected areas. “We did have water damage around some of the sewers on Broadway. The water picked something up, and lodged it into our sanitary sewer line and it backed up around YMCA. We now have a bypass pump in place till we can determine what’s blocking it. The city engineer will put in a camera line to see what it is. Whatever it is … it’s solid.”
The Washington Avenue sinkhole became known as the Washington Avenue geyser after blasting water an eye-popping 75 feet into the air. Basically, Schupp explained, that so much water poured in so quickly that the culvert “gulped” air and then “belched” it out. “Every once in a while it would blow off,” he said. “It was pretty scary.”
The DPW also thought quickly and parked their excavator in Gallo Park down on the Rondout to hold the docks from coming on shore, added Schupp. By Monday, all 15 employees were working, many working overtime on clean-up and damage control. Schupp said interdepartmental communication and collaboration was key, and was pleased with Kingston’s overall survival. Schupp didn’t anticipate damage from this week’s storms, but he was not thrilled with the forecast either.
