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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Rains Force Evacuations, Cause Flooding, Fire
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| Flooding closed Otterkill Road |
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| Looking south from Orrs Mills and Jackson Rd. |
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| Residents evacuated these Taylor Rd. homes |
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| The fish & game club. Photo by Mary Ann Neuman |
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| The Moodna waters. Photo by Mary Ann Neuman |
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| This Otterkill Rd. house was evacuated |
April 16, 2007
Heavy rains and flooding have caused a number of problems in the Cornwall area, including a fire, road closures, and home evacuations.
Three homes at the intersection of Otterkill and Taylor Roads were evacuated overnight as flood waters from Moodna Creek rose to the buildings’ foundations, and higher. The high waters in that area led the town of Cornwall highway department to shut down portions of Otterkill Road and Taylor Road in Mountainville around 5 a.m. Monday morning.
That area is also the location of the wells that supply the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson water department, which issued an alert to area residents advising them to boil their water before drinking it. Village clerk Jeanne Mahoney said that the well water was being chlorinated but because of the flooding, which covered the well fields with more than a foot of water, the department could not be sure that no foreign objects had entered the water supply.
Members of Storm King Fire Engine Company #2, in the village, extinguished a fire shortly after 4 a.m. that had started in the basement of 6 Avenue B. Assistant fire chief Kurt Hahn said that the fire originated in the basement furnace, probably a result of an electrical short that can occur when water damages wires. Hahn said the homeowners awoke early and smelled the smoke in the basement, which had filled with two feet of water overnight.
Hahn said that he and many of the firefighters at the station had not been to bed yet as they have answered some 50 calls in the past 24 hours. “Flooded basements, gas leaks, down power lines, trees --- calls keep coming and we keep putting them in order, assessing them,” Hahn said.
The Salisbury Mills fire department was called to the location of the evacuated house on Otterkill Road to monitor the status of an oil tank and a propane tanke on the property. Cornwall police officer Mike Thompson, who was on the scene, said that the fire crew was unable to access the property due to the fast currents of the Moodna, which had risen to the first floor of the structure.
Gerry Jaeger, who was inspecting the property on behalf of owner Peter Stern, said he hadn’t seen water that high in the area since 1955.
Curious people parked their cars and ventured on to the bridge over the Moodna Creek at Route 32, to watch the pounding waters that were encroaching on the homes near the creek’s edge. A portion of Route 32 further south near J&K Deli also was partially flooded by the creek waters, which threatened the Black Rock Fish and Game headquarters in Mountainville.
In the village, Shore Road west of River Road has been closed due to flooding.
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