The post-flooding mold, she said, ruined everything. Everything. “All personal items, everything in the house. Ruined. We opened the oven and a foot and a half of water came out. My daughter’s wedding gown which we had professionally sealed, brand new living room furniture and childhood mementos, [a] suitcase of pictures of my mom and people we loved who passed away filled with mud. It was really bad.”
Elaine Weiss said she was moved, though, by the community’s response. “The Bruderhof boys came and ripped up carpeting. My grandchildren put on masks and filled up garbage cans of stuff. My daughters helped with everything. Even though it was horrible, I was given the opportunity to know that I am loved.”
Ulster awaits restoration
In the Town of Ulster, recovery has been more successful in some areas than in others. According to town supervisor James Quigley III, infrastructure issues like road washouts, damage to culverts and slides of embankments have been corrected for some time.
But the Whittier sewer plant is still facing restoration, and Ulster’s town hall is still in a state of disarray, with town officials trying to gather enough data to convince FEMA that a mold issue which chased the police department out of their basement headquarters and into temporary office space was a result of storm damage. The town was recently awarded money to restore the basement level of the building, but Quigley said he didn’t think it would make sense to spend the funds until it was certain FEMA would help with the cost of mold removal throughout the building — a project which could cost over $200,000.
“Stress ‘restore’ because that’s just going to put us back in the condition we existed in prior to the storm,” Quigley said. “The subsurface water conditions around town hall need to be addressed, and I’m not going to throw good money after bad.”
Elsewhere in Ulster, Irene had a major impact on a relatively small portion of the town, primarily along the Rondout and Esopus. Still, those areas were hit fairly hard, with some property owners walking away rather than dealing with what would likely have been an expensive recovery in a flood-prone area.
“We had a number of people move out as a result of the flooding and not move back,” Quigley said. “And I don’t mean to make that sound like it’s a lot, maybe it’s a handful, on the Esopus. Along the Rondout it’s probably a little bit more because I do know that the trailer park there was hit quite badly. Those people ended up suffering the most from this disaster, the people in the Creek Locks Trailer Park.”
More work for Saugerties
It was Good Night Irene for numerous Saugerties homeowners when the storm blew through the Hudson Valley last year. While most of the damage caused by the heavy rain and high winds has been repaired, a number of projects in the town of Saugerties have yet to be completed. Two small bridges remain to be fixed.
Dozens of roads in both the town and the village were closed by downed power lines and trees from the high winds that followed the storm. More than 1000 customers of Central Hudson lost power, with some having to wait more than a week to have their electricity restored.
Fire officials estimated that fire companies pumped out more than 400 homes.
Some homes were unsalvageable, with three permanently abandoned because of mold that took over the residences after the storm.
Bart Bell, jack of all trades at Lynch’s Marina off Ferry Street, is credited with saving a number of customers’ boats, using an old grey GMC pickup truck as an anchor. Bell parked the vehicle the Grey Ghost on dry land just off the docks, and ran ropes from the truck’s bumper to the boats. As flood water rose to the bottom of the truck’s windows, she held fast. After the waters receded, and the Grey Ghost was dried out, Bell put the key in the ignition and turned it over. It started right away.
One of the consequences of Irene that is still visible where the Esopus Creek runs into the Hudson River can be viewed during low tide. A long sandbar that runs along the Lighthouse Road side of the creek was never there before Irene.
The village and the town are trying to get the state or federal government to come out and have the creek dredged.
Animals at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, on low ground off Old Stage Road, also had a rough time of it. “It was a real eye-opener,” said director Kathy Stevens last week. “We had done several hundred thousands of dollars of infrastructure to make sure we were safe from flooding.” The CAS has purchased another property on higher ground, but it will take the organization a couple of years to get it ready. “I just hope we don’t get hit with another one,” Stevens added.
Contributors to this article included Erin Quinn, Violet Snow, Jesse Smith, Carrie Jones Ross, Crispin Kott, Robert Ford and Geddy Sveikauskas.
