There hasn't been a lot of info on this on the news. Little bits and pieces on a few local news stations, about a minute on the Weather channel (from what I've been told - I don't have cable). But there are towns in Delaware County, NY that have been devastated by Hurricane Irene. I don't care what her strength was when she hit. The devastation that she left is just unbelievable.
In Fleishmanns, there is very little left. The town needed to be evacuated. Water continues to rise higher. The national guard sent in a helicopter to rescue people stranded on their roofs.
In Margaretville, the streets have become a river (see the video below). Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, traveled to Margaretville to survey the damage.
And in Downsville, NY, they are preparing for the Reservoir to flood. Between the Pepacton Reservoir and the East Branch of the Delaware River, they're expecting flooding to go a fair amount into town. (If you take a look at the map below, you should be able to see where the flooding is expected to get to.)
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I haven't heard of any lives lost, but I can't get a lot of reliable information. Even my mother, who lives in Downsville, has only heard a little here and a little there from family members that have called her. I'm not too worried about her and my step-father or my sister and her family, because they live up in the mountain. It would be a flood of epic proportions to endanger them and their property. But I have family and friends that live in Downsville proper. Aunts, uncles, cousins, my grandmother, people I went to school with there. And I don't want them to have to go through this again. (They've been hit with several floods over the last several years.)
I know that this small area of New York isn't the only one getting hit. Believe me, I know. I've got family and friends throughout the Northeast. But Downsville will always be my hometown. It's where I lived from 2 until 15. It's where I learned life's lessons. By extension, Margaretville, Fleishmanns, Deposit and Arkville are places also close to my heart. And I worry about those that have been displaced, as well as those who may still be displaced.
When your prayers/good thoughts/whatever start winging their way to your chosen destination, please add an extra one for those in Delaware County. You may never have heard of these towns before this blog post, but they are in need of your prayers.
And a lot less fun than the other options.
