Merciful storm
Monday morning several sea gulls were wheeling over the Bridge Street bridge in Phoenicia. Although gulls frequently wander from the reservoir to Boiceville, they are rarely seen as far upstream as Phoenicia.
Around 2 p.m., a gentle rain began to fall, amid news reports that the hurricane’s edge was already smashing into Atlantic City, and the water was lapping at Manhattan’s FDR Drive. At 2:45 p.m., the power went out in Phoenicia. I wrote:
It’s a strange, suspended feeling, knowing that the storm is on its way, even though it’s barely raining, and there’s almost no wind. I’m home alone. It’s hard to concentrate on anything. I think it’s time to go to my neighbor’s house. She has a generator, which feels like cheating, but at least I’ll have company.
I’m actually a little excited about the wind. It will be dramatic, scary, exhilarating. I’m not looking forward to a hole in the roof, but there are only two trees that are close enough to hit my house if they fall. I’m trying not to think about having to renovate my garage and crawlspace again. Maybe the trees will stay up, and the creek won’t flood.
By evening, the rain had picked up but, as predicted, it was not torrential. The trees were gyrating in the wind. Pictures began to come in from Manhattan over Facebook: 10th Avenue under water, cars half-submerged on Avenue C.
A report arrived by email stating that several roads in Woodland Valley and Oliverea were closed due to downed trees and power lines. Crews were at work clearing them away. Around 10 p.m., a firefighter knocked on the door to hand out a flyer with more advice on the storm, but he said evacuation was not necessary at this point.
After the drubbing Shandaken took from Hurricane Irene a year ago, residents were holding their breath as they hunkered down to wait for Sandy, but the latest hurricane produced no major disasters in the township. Inconvenience resulted from power outages and from downed trees and power lines, but the storm was merciful this time around.
Sandy’s arrival, predicted for Monday, October 29, was well-publicized in the media, and residents were busy on Sunday preparing for the assault. The Boiceville Market, which was out of commission for over a month after flooding from Irene, was surrounded on Sunday by a wall of sandbags, as shoppers crowded the store to stock up for the storm.
In Phoenicia, motorists waited in line at the gas station to fill their tanks before loss of power made gas un-pumpable. As spectators on Main Street waited for the Halloween parade, Shandaken supervisor Rob Stanley said he had already declared a state of emergency in order to procure resources such as generators, food supplies, and cots for the emergency shelter at Belleayre Ski Center. Flyers were posted on storefronts in Phoenicia, advising residents how to prepare their homes for the expected high winds and possible flooding.
At 7 a.m. on Tuesday, the wind was calming down, and I walked over to check on my house. It was fine. The street was littered with branches, but they were small. A big sycamore on the bank of the Esopus had fallen and was lying with its pale limbs stretched over the water, halfway to the opposite bank.
At the west end of Phoenicia’s Main Street, a massive spruce had leaned over onto the homeowner’s roof, breaking a window and slightly damaging the house. There were no injuries.
The Phoenicia Deli, powered by a generator, was the only store open in town on Tuesday. A small gathering of residents ordered coffee, and a High Street resident met a man who could chop up the big pine that had gone down on her property. The tree had conveniently avoided the road and her cottage.
The TV was on at town hall, showing flooded houses in New Jersey, evacuated people returning to devastated homes in tears. At the height of the storm, a 69-year-old woman from the Town of Rochester was killed when flying debris struck her car. But Shandaken had lucked out this time. The biggest problem remaining was what to do about Halloween in Phoenicia if the electricity there was still out on Wednesday. With the power projected to return by Wednesday evening, an update that morning stated, “The Town is NOT CANCELLING Trick-or-Treating activities.”
Violet Snow
