While the rain may have died down Monday afternoon, officials say high winds could still play a factor in power outages overnight — and in some areas, heightened water levels are now rising with the tides.
Kingston Mayor Steve Noble issued a flood advisory for the city's downtown waterfront. The Democrat says Kingston has received more than four and a half inches of rain since Sunday, prompting the closure of multiple roads across the city. With the addition of tidal flooding from the Hudson River and Rondout Creek (which had been expected to peak around 5:45 p.m.), Noble says Kingston is closing all of its waterfront streets out of precaution.
Noble says the city’s fire department has already received “dozens” of calls to pump out buildings, and spent much of Monday lining up sandbags against waterfront businesses.
"We have a really good understanding of which buildings are going to flood, and whether it's our wastewater treatment plant — which, we've now instituted our flood protocol to make sure that that facility stays dry," says Noble.
New York State Police say one person was killed while driving in dangerous floods in Greene County Monday. State Police tell WAMC that an underwater rescue team responded to the incident, which remains under investigation. The name and age of the deceased driver were not released. The Greene County Sheriff’s office referred calls for comment back to State Police.
Chris Kear, director of the Fire & Emergency Services Department in Rockland County, says firefighters there conducted 10 water rescues involving vehicles Monday, but in most instances the caller was able to safely evacuate the vehicle on their own. Kear says a number of roads are still closed across the county, including Route 59 by the Palisades Mall, Route 303 by the Clarkstown landfill, Route 9W in Stony Point, and Route 202 in the town of Ramapo.
The Palisades Parkway, he says, also remains closed in at least one direction from Exit 14 up to the Bear Mountain Circle.
"State Police indicate that they're hoping to have the northbound side open by rush hour [Monday], but they're not sure about the southbound side because they're trying to do some more roadway assessments to see what kind of damage they have," he explains.
Similarly, Westchester County Executive George Latimer said during his weekly press briefing Monday afternoon that the Bronx River Parkway is still closed.
Much of the Northeast is still struggling with power outages from Sunday night’s storm. Eversource says it has restored service to more than 61,500 customers in Massachusetts as of 1 p.m., but roughly 93,000 are still in the dark. Orange & Rockland Utilities says more than 2,100 of its customers are still without power as of 5 p.m. Nearly 5,000 NYSEG customers are still without power in the Hudson Valley, and Central Hudson Gas & Electric says it is still working to restore power for nearly 1,200 residents in the region.
If you ask Orange & Rockland, though, they’ve come a long way. Utility spokesman Mike Donovan says crews have been working since 10 p.m. Sunday night to restore service to roughly 18,000 customers, and strong winds haven’t made it easy.
"Visbility was bad. It was hard to get around because of all the flooding," says Donovan. "It was just a very tough night, because the wind was very high, and we work 40 feet in the air."
The National Weather Service warns strong winds could continue Monday evening, with gusts of up to 30-35 miles per hour.
Meantime, Orange County Emergency Services Commissioner Peter Cirigliano says officials are watching the water levels in the Wallkill and Neversink Rivers, as well as Moodna Creek. Cirigliano says all three could crest overnight, leading to localized flooding Tuesday morning. Falling temperatures could complicate that even further: Cirigliano warns those who may be out on the roads to watch out not only for flooding, but for black ice.
"Drive slow, especially on the overnight. With the drop in temperatures and standing water, it could lead to slippery conditions," he notes. "And it's important for anybody living along the riverbed, in close proximity to it, to pay attention to their water levels."
Flood watches and warnings remain up across much of the WAMC listening area.
