MORIAH, N.Y. (WCAX) – Officials in Essex County, New York, say damage from the severe weather overnight will be in the millions of dollars.
“We have lost a couple of houses that have had some damage — that’s minimal. But mainly it is road and infrastructure,” Matthew Watts with Essex County Emergency Services.
At the Port Henry Campground, rushing water from the Mill Brook overwhelmed the grounds. “It was coming through here like a wall. It runs down off the bank here and comes down across the tracks and comes through here like a river,” said the campground’s Neil Larken. He says town officials ordered an evacuation Wednesday night after the water reached waist-high.
“The brook rose super fast and they decided finally when they saw the bridge there the water was piling up, they wanted to evacuate the campers.”
Moriah Town Supervisor Matthew Brassard says no one was hurt by the flood and that they’ve been getting help from the town of Minerva with repairing the campground’s roads. “Called me at 5 a.m. this morning and offered any assistance, and he sent all five of his trucks up here and they have been hauling material for the town all day, and I can’t thank them enough,” he said.
Work that Larken says he hopes only lasts a few days. “This is our gem. This is a beautiful, beautiful place, and to see it in this shape is really sad,” he said.
The county’s Matthew Watts says damage is already above the threshold for a FEMA declaration, which is around $200,000.