Image by NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Flickr
Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene passed through New York City and headed up north through New England last weekend. Thankfully, here in the city the impact was not nearly as bad as predicted—about the same as a bad nor’easter storm. Andrew and I hunkered down in our apartment for the duration, and aside from a few minor leaks around the windows we didn’t have any real problems.
Upstate, however, the story was (and continues to be) quite different. The torrential rains associated with the storm dumped 11-12 inches of water in the Adirondacks, causing widespread river and stream flooding. In Willsboro, the Bouquet surged over its banks and flooded out Main Street, closing Route 22 for most of Sunday. Up on Willsboro Mountain, at least one section of Route 22 was completely washed out and will require extensive repairs before it can be opened again.
Relatively speaking, Willsboro got off fairly lightly. Communities in the High Peaks area were devastated, especially Keene. Roads and bridges all over the north country are washed out, making travel difficult if not impossible—some areas are completely cut off.
This is a very difficult time for the people upstate. Times are tough already, and were made tougher by the unusually high Spring floods this past May; now, already struggling communities must deal with the aftermath of Irene.
