Debby triggers flooding, power outages, major water rescues in rural MidAtlantic, Northeast

First responders launched helicopter and high-water rescues of people trapped in cars and homes in rural New York and Pennsylvania as heavy rains from Debby’s remnants pummeled the Northeast with intense flooding.

New York’s worst flooding so far has hit villages and hamlets in a largely rural area south of the Finger Lakes, not far from the Pennsylvania border.

In Steuben County, which borders Pennsylvania, officials ordered the evacuation of the towns of Jasper, Woodhull and part of Addison and said people were trapped as flooding made several roads impassable. By mid-evening, some of those orders were lifted as the threat of severe flooding passed.

In the hamlet of Woodhull, a rain-swollen stream flowed so fiercely that the water overtopped a bridge. Area resident Stephanie Waters said parts of sheds, branches and uprooted trees were among the debris that crashed into the span.

“Hearing the trees hitting the bridge was scary,” she said.

Fire Chief Timothy Martin said everyone was safe in the town, but “every business in Woodhull is damaged.”

John Anderson said he saw floodwaters rising quickly, overwhelming some vehicles in Canisteo in Steuben County and nearby Andover in Allegany County. “It’s not slow growth. He was very fierce,” said Anderson, who provided messages to The Wellsville Sun. He said he saw people’s belongings being swept away by the rushing water.

In Canisteo, ranchers Cliff and Deb Moss sustained severe damage to their dairy farm, which has been there for more than five decades. A neighbor’s double-wide trailer floated across a field to a river during the flood, said their daughter, Stacey Urban.

Urban said the catastrophic damage to the community is still fresh and hard to fathom.

“They lost a lot. Beyond heartbreaking,” Urban said.

Heavy silt

Ann Farkas, who also lives in Canisteo, said it’s the first time her home, one of the oldest in the county, has flooded since she moved there in 1976. Now she has to shovel out layers of thick mud and hard that remained. behind.

“The water goes down, so what’s left is so thick — it’s like wet concrete — mud,” Farkas said. Her plans are to clean out a garage so the furniture can be moved there before the baseboards, floorboards and possibly the first floor flooring can be torn up.

“Like a lot of people, I don’t have flood insurance, so I doubt my landlord will cover all of this,” she said.

Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler said the storm hit some of the same areas as Tropical Storm Fred three years earlier, and a half-dozen swift water rescue teams were rescuing people trapped in vehicles and homes.

About 20 evacuees reached a shelter set up in a high school, Red Cross spokesman Michael Tedesco said. A second shelter was being set up at another high school in Steuben County.

States of emergency

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro have declared states of emergency.

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director Randy Padfield said a National Guard helicopter with water rescue capability was dispatched to Tioga County as flood conditions became severe in the region, which straddles the state line. New york.

Padfield said Tioga officials requested assistance with eight to 10 rescue locations and several boat rescues were also performed.

In Potter County, also on the New York border, the storm took out bridges and caused severe damage to Route 49, Commissioner Bob Rossman said.

“My understanding is that the road is pretty well gone,” Rossman said. “It will be a very expensive replacement. And one of the main arteries in the county.”

He said one firefighter suffered water-related injuries, but Rossman did not know to what extent.

More than 150,000 customers were without power in New York and Pennsylvania, according to PowerOutage.us.

Debby was downgraded to a tropical depression late Thursday afternoon and was a post-tropical cyclone on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said. It made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, exited the Atlantic Ocean and then made landfall a second time Thursday morning in South Carolina as a tropical storm.

Vermont

In Vermont, where more than 47,000 customers were without power, Gov. Phil Scott warned that Debby’s remnants could cause severe damage, including in already wet areas that were hit by flash floods twice last month. But a flood watch was canceled by mid-evening. Flooding that hit the northeastern part of the state on July 30 destroyed bridges, destroyed and damaged homes and washed out roads in the rural town of Lyndon. It came three weeks after deadly flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. President Joe Biden approved Vermont’s emergency declaration.

Rick Dente, who owns Dente’s Market in Barre, Vermont, worked to protect his business with plastic and sandbags as the rain fell Friday. “There’s not much else you can do,” he said.

Jaqi Kincaid, who was hit by flooding last month in Lyndon, Vermont, said the previous storm crushed her garage and well, so they have no water. It also felled a 120-foot (36 m) tree and knocked down the fence.

“We do a lot of this,” Kincaid said, clasping his hands together as if in prayer.

Maryland

Stormwater flooded parts of downtown Annapolis, Maryland, including the US Naval Academy on Friday. And flash flooding hit the South Carolina town of Moncks Corner, where one of Debby’s early bands sparked a tornado on Tuesday. In surrounding Berkeley County, emergency crews made 33 sea rescues.

There were eight dam breaks in Georgia, half of them in rural Bulloch County, northwest of Savannah, Gov. Brian Kemp said. At one point, 140 people were in shelters, he said. Some poultry units were flooded and some cattle were lost in flooded pastures, officials said.

There have been at least nine deaths related to Debby, most in car accidents or from fallen trees.

Sharp and Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Hill reported from Altamont, New York. Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press reporters Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Lisa Rathke in Barre, Vermont; Jeffrey Collins of Columbia, South Carolina; and Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut contributed to this report.

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