A Tree Grows in Downsville

Flickr: Northern Magnolia

I found this lovely photo of a star magnolia while perusing Flickr for photos tagged "Downsville".

Yes, it's Coach Mom's back yard.

Flickr

Global Warming Ignored By Corporate Media

Cedar Rapids

Excellent post pointing out what the corporate media ignores: our "weird" weather is actually a direct consequence of climate change.

Kirk James Murphy, M.D., firedoglake: Another Gift From Global Climate Change: That Ugly Weather

Tonight Coach Mom called to tell me that a wind shear event this afternoon dropped a huge old pine tree on her neighbor's house; another neighbor can't get into their house because a piece of roof blocks the door; and half the town is without power. This is in the same tiny community that had a $30 million storm wash out several major roads June 19th of last year. That was their fourth major flood in two years.

MSNBC is in their second day of non-stop coverage of the untimely death of Tim Russert. It is sad that a man that young who was a great friend to all of them died, but it is not earth-shaking news. Tens of thousands are now dying every year in global-warming fueled natural disasters. Hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, and heat waves are covered as though this was just the weather, but it is actually earth-shattering news of climate change. Maybe if Tim Russert had drowned in a 500-year-flood, the media would cover global warming.

Downsville Opera House Poster

 

The poster above is a new donation to the Colchester Historical Society, from the Opera House in Downsville, which burned down many years ago.

The movies Gunga Din and Renegade Trail were released in 1939, so the poster is probably from 1939 or 1940.

It's really in remarkable condition for being almost 70 years old. The back was used to keep score for some game, in pencil, but the colors are quite vibrant.

Catskills Flash Flood: The Aftermath

Utility workers work to restore power in Colchester, N.Y., Thursday, June 21, 2007. Searchers recovered the body of one person killed after flash floods surged through the edge of the Catskill Mountains and were looking Thursday for up to six people missing. Scores of troopers, rangers, National Guard members and firefighters combed for a second day through acres of washed-away homes, uprooted trees and mud-covered roads in rural Delaware County. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Middletown Times Herald-Record: Rescuers' tales of courage

Oneonta Daily Star: Emergency center established in Downsville for flood victims

News10Now: Flood devastated community in Catskills (with video)

ExpressTimes (PA): Flash floods in New York create water troubles here

NYSDOTNews: NYSDOT Helps Restore Roads in Flood-Ravaged Region
State Crews Focus on Holiday Brook and Berry Brook Roads in Delaware County

Catskills Flash Flood Update: Two Dead, Two Missing, Over $20 Million in Damage

A backhoe is used to remove debris from around a house in Colchester, N.Y., in the aftermath of the flooding Friday, June 22, 2007. Scores of searchers have been picking through the mounds of muddy rubble left in the flash flood's wake since Wednesday. (AP Photo/Don Minichino, Pool)

The recovery from last week's flash flood continues. The bodies of Fred and Marjorie Shutts were recovered and laid to rest, but two women, Gertrude Melvin and Barbara Clarke Cooper, remain missing and are presumed dead. The land search has been called off and now authorities are searching bodies of water.

If you wish to donate to the flood victims, a fund has been established.

Middletown Times Herald-Record: Damage estimates from flood approach $23 million

On Tuesday, SEMO pegged the damage to public property in the Delaware County town at about $5 million - far short of the number for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to step in. Now that number has climbed to "a little more than $20 million," Michalski said.

That estimate for public property only refers to roads and bridges, debris removal and the emergency response, Michalski said.

SEMO has not yet assessed the damage to 150 homes because several roads have been impassable.

The damage to personal property along the 4-mile stretch north of Roscoe also has been staggering. The latest count has 33 homes, mobile homes and other structures destroyed. Another 12 homes have had major damage, and six with minor damage.

Numerous cars and motorcycles were also flattened, or swept downstream.

About 99 percent of the damage is in Delaware County, along County Road 7 (Route 206 in Sullivan County) and town roads off Spring Brook, in an area known as Cat Hollow. A tiny amount is in the neighboring Sullivan County Town of Rockland.

Oneonta Daily Star: Area News Briefs June 27, 2007

COLCHESTER _ The towns of Colchester and Andes remain under states of emergency because of significant flooding June 19, according to a news release Tuesday from the Delaware County Department of Emergency Services.

County Route 7, also known as Cat Hollow Road and state Route 206, will be closed between Roscoe and Downsville for an undetermined amount of time. Many of the roads near county Route 7 have been devastated and are closed.

Middletown Times Herald=Record: Special Report: Full coverage of the flash flood

Catskills Flash Flood: More Video, Photos

From the Middletown Times-Herald Record, video taken driving down what's left of Route 206 towards Roscoe. The damage from the storm is almost entirely within the Town of Colchester. It's the town's fourth major flood in the past two years.

I drove to Coach Mom's house today and to avoid all the emergency vehicles going from Route 30 to Holiday Brook and Cat Hollow, I came down 88 instead. I watched horizontal lightning from the exits for Cooperstown until I got off at Oneonta to go to Brooks' BBQ (sorry guys). At Brooks' takeout window they had the Weather Channel on overhead, which had the orange bar at the bottom for a severe thunderstorm warning for Franklin (where I was headed) and a tornado warning for Ithaca. Luckily for me the storms were already passing and stayed ahead of me as I headed south. There are currently at least three people missing from the flash flood in Colchester, and one of them was reportedly swept away in a car. I thought about that all the way home.

recordonline.com - The Times Herald-Record, serving New York's Hudson Valley and the Catskills

Photos submitted by THR readers:

recordonline.com - Article Photo Zoom

THR: Flash Flood Day Two: recordonline.com - Article Photo Zoom

midhudsonnews.com: Search continues for missing as damage toll is in the millions

Delaware County 911 Coordinator and Deputy Emergency Services Director Steve Finch told MidHudsonNews.com today that early assessment of property damage just to Delaware County exceeds $5 million. That just pertains to county roads, bridges and other infrastructure that was damaged or destroyed. The raging floodwaters were so intense that they tore large slabs of pavement off roadways.

Route 206 is also County Route 7, and is the most traveled road in the county. Bizarrely, in the past few years the county has posted signs designating it as a seasonal road, meaning that it doesn't get priority plowing for snow and that you are at your own risk traveling.

Catskills Flash Flood: Video

The Daily Star has posted a 2 minute video that contains footage shot by Ed and Melissa Blass, who abandoned their Toyota Prius for higher ground. The car is gone but they survived. You can hear and see the hail hitting the windshield hard.

The Daily Star: Flooding in Delaware County

Update: Here's a story from Albany's NewsChannel 9:

My News 9 Cast

Catskills Flash Flood Update: Thursday, June 21, 2007

These photos, taken yesterday show damage to Route 206 in the Delaware County Town of Colchester left by the floods that hit Tuesday night.
Times Herald-Record/TOM BUSHEY

NYTimes: Up to 5 Are Missing in Flooded Catskill Town When this story originally was posted last night, the headline read "Up to 7...".

recordonline: Rains spark killer wave; 6 reported missing in Delaware flood

recordonline: Flood survivors tell tales of escape, express gratitude for saviors

recordonline: Series of storms caused floods in Colchester

Oneonta Daily Star: Cat Hollow Flooding 2007 Photo Gallery P.S., Daily Star, it's Cat Hollow, not Cat Hallow, no cat worshiping going on there.

Oneonta Daily Star: Four missing after flood

Oneonta Daily Star: Local woman escapes flood on Cat Hollow

Oneonta Daily Star: Oneontans stranded

Binghamton Press: Delaware County flooding wipes out roads, homes
4 missing as searches continue

Binghamton Press: Delaware County Flood Photo Gallery

7Online.com (WABC): Search continues for missing flood victims
6 people still missing, including the elderly

Two months worth of rain, up to eight inches pounded down late Tuesday in just two hours.

midhudsonnews.com: One confirmed dead in flood aftermath

GARY KLINDT photo/Binghamton Press
Aerial view of the damage along Delaware County Route 7 / State Route 206 in the Town of Colchester on Wednesday where a flash flood Tuesday evening caused Spring Brook to wash out roads, bridges and homes, leaving several people missing.

Flooding from the Beaverkill on Tuesday washed away sections of Route 206 in the Delaware County Town of Colchester and caused major damage to the town.
Times Herald-Record/TOM BUSHEY

Catskills Flash Flood Update: Town of Colchester

Oneonta Daily Star: Four missing after flooding in Colchester

DOWNSVILLE— Four people were missing and at least was one presumed dead after an 8-foot-high wall of water rushed through two valleys in the Delaware County town of Colchester, officials said Wednesday.

Downsville Fire Department First Assistant Chief Mark Mattson said searches had been going on since the storm hit Tuesday night. However, late Wednesday, The Associated Press reported that police were forced to temporarily call off a search, citing darkness and safety. The AP said two people initially unaccounted for were found, and searches were expected to resume in the morning.

In Colchester, Gertrude Melvin, who was visiting her daughter and son-in-law, Elaine and George Finkle, was presumed dead after she was swept away by the water as her son-in-law attempted to rescue her, according to a family friend.

Fred and Marjorie Shutts were also missing after their home was washed away. The Shuttses’ home was next to the Finkles’ home, officials said.

“Holiday Brook Road is basically nonexistent, and county Route 7 is almost as bad,” Mattson said Wednesday.

Catskills Flash Flood Update: Six Missing, Three Presumed Dead

Photographer:
THR/MICHELE HASKELL
About the Photo:
Sullivan County Deputy Fire Coordinator Bill Lothrop looks through debris by the foundation of a home that was swept away with an elderly couple inside The couple along with another neighbor who was also swept away with his home are still missing as well as several motorists who were traveling on Rt. 206 in Colchester when an 8-foot wall raged through them.

recordonline: Six missing, three believed dead in flash flood
Homes, bridges washed away

5:30 p.m. - Six people are missing and three are presumed dead after a flash flood washed away several homes and damaged bridges just north of the Sullivan County hamlet of Roscoe last night.

Flood waters swept homes and cars away, ripped up pavement and dumped tons of mud and rocks along an 8-mile stretch of Route 206 from a mile north of Roscoe to Route 30 near the Pepacton Reservoir in the Delaware County Town of Colchester.

An elderly woman is presumed dead after an 8-foot-high wall of water away two trailer homes in Colchester. Gertrude Melvin was visiting her daughter when the storm hit. She was unable to reach a rescue rope and was killed after water swept her away, according to her family.

Melvin’s daughter, Elaine Finkle, is a 19-year employee in Sullivan County’s Office of the Aging. Finkle’s husband, George Finkle, works for New York State Electric & Gas. A trailer belonging to George’s parents, who lived next door, was also washed away. According to one of Elaine Finkle’s co-workers, the family lost their automobiles, their home and everything in it.

Also presumed dead are Fred and Marjorie Shutts, whose home was ripped off its foundation in the same area.

Paul Piatk, the Shutts’ neighbor, saw the couple standing on the porch around 7 p.m. An 8-foot wave swept their home away. Piatk said he saw state Trooper Joe Decker dive into the water, but Decker was forced to swim back to the bank.

“It was just a big, huge wave that swept everything away,” Piatk said. “The wave came down within two minutes; the garage, the car, the motorcycle, the wave just took it.”

recordonline: Photo Gallery: Flooding: Search and Rescue

7online.com (WABC):
Several missing after flooding
At least one woman confirmed dead

Also, four homes were washed away by the floods. Residents of between 15 and 18 homes in Roscoe, at the Sullivan County border, were evacuated. Drivers along Route 7 had to be rescued from their cars.

A little good news:

midhudsonnews.com: Elderly couple rescued from flood waters

Roscoe -- When Lajos and Susanna Erdos left a friend’s house in Walton in Delaware County to travel to their home to the Village of Ellenville in Ulster County Tuesday night, they had no idea what they would encounter on a road they have taken many times before.

The elderly Hungarian couple was driving on State Route 206 around 7:30 p.m. when they were met with heavy rain, then hail, then rising waters, all within minutes.

Mrs. Erdos said she told her husband to drive on the left side of the road just because it was rising so much quicker on the right, but within a few minutes, they had to pull over due to the quickly rising rush of water coming down the road. That is where they stayed for over night until being rescued early this morning.

“We sat there for 11 hours with little food or water, and the water was up to our waists,” Mrs. Erdos told MidHudsonNews.com while having a bite to eat at a Red Cross Disaster Relief Center setup at the Roscoe Middle School. “It was so terrifying. We didn’t think we were going to come out alive. We both thought that that was it for the both us.”

The two, both in their 80s, were rescued Wednesday morning and taken to the disaster relief center, where they said they would stay until Mrs. Erdos’ daughter who lives locally would pick them up and take them home to Ellenville.

Mr. and Mrs. Erdos discuss their ordeal

One Dead, Five Missing In Catskills Flash Flood

Photographer:
THR/TOM BUSHEY
About the Photo:
This area in Colchester was damaged by flooding from the Beaverkill on June 19, 2007. Route 206 is at the top of the frame. Colchester is in Delaware County, just across the county line from Roscoe. June 20, 2007.


recordonline: Elderly woman killed in flash flood
Homes washed away, five residents still missing

recordonline: Aerial Photo Gallery

recordonline.com: Aerial Video, Roscoe flood damage

NYDailyNews (AP): Breaking News
Search continues for people missing in Catskills flash floods

Another Year of June Flash Floods in the Catskills

Photographer:
THR/MIKE RICE
About the Photo:
The Beaverkill River in Roscoe flooded on Wednesday, June 20, 2007, causing many locals to evacuate while some were missing within the flood zone. Search and rescue workers from around the county teamed up to search for the missing individuals.
Last summer while Coach Mom & I were in Germany, we were shocked to see video on CNN International of flooding in Hancock, New York.

Last night there was another episode of flash flooding in the Catskills in June. 6 to 8 inches of rain fell in a two-hour period over a small area near Roscoe and homes were swept away by the Beaverkill. Baseball-sized hail was also reported. Coach Mom says that during the rain the air appeared white from the pounding rain.

From reading the articles, it sounds like the flooding is in the area around the old Hodges Furniture store, just on the Rockland/Colchester line. I think the bridge over the Beaverkill that you cross as you drive into Rockland from Colchester is one of those washed out.

As we learned from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, one of the consequences of global warming and climate change is that our weather is more extreme. Floods are an expected consequence of warmer temperatures, as warmer air holds more moisture, and when it finally dumps out, you get floods.

Middletown Times Herald-Record: Elderly woman killed in flash flood
Homes washed away, several residents still missing

Middletown Times-Herald Record: 8 inches of rain fell on flooded area last night

recordonline.com - Article Photo Zoom: "Flash flood washes away homes"

recordonline Video: Night activity near Roscoe flash flood scene

Binghamton Press: Colchester area hit hard by storm

Roads closed include Morton Hill, Jug Tavern, Campbell Mountain, Holiday Brook, Berry Brook and Beaver Hill roads, Route 7 from Downsville to Roscoe, and State Route 30 in the area.