State officials board a helicopter in Liverpool to tour flood-damaged areas
/ photo: Jessica Cain
LIVERPOOL -- State officials took flight in Central New York on Thursday to assess flood damage.
Officials say there needs to be $24.6 million in damage before the affected areas can request federal help to clean up. The State Director of Emergency Management tells CNY Central he is optimistic that goal will be reached, but right now, the state is just in the assessment stage.
Brian Stratton, Director of the state Canal Corporation, and Andrew Feeney, Director of the state Office of Emergency Management, met with local leaders to learn more about the flooding problems locally.
Feeney says from the sky, he saw damaged yards, homes, and farms.
"It was quite severe," says Feeney. "We saw a lot of water come through a lot of places and a lot of infrastructure damage. We're into that assessment process right now."
He says in addition to the state applying for federal assistance if the damage is severe enough, he plans to approach the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets to see if workers there can help farmers who are suffering from the floods. He says the best thing homeowners can do is to keep track of how much the damage is costing them.
Feeney says there were several teams touring the flood damage statewide on Thursday. He says those teams consisted of a mix of federal, state, and county officials.
In related news, much of New York's canal system will remain closed for at least two more weeks because of high water caused by flooding.
The state Canal Corp. says the Erie Canal east of the Genesee River in Rochester and all other segments of the canal system will remain closed until at least the week of May 23.
"We're managing the water properly, and it's our expectation in the next couple weeks, hopefully, the water goes down, and we're able to get the canal system open," says Stratton.
The Erie Canal from Rochester to Tonawanda, just north of Buffalo, remains open.
Heavy rain and melting snowpack in recent weeks have raised water levels throughout the 524-mile canal system, which includes the Erie, Champlain, Oswego and Cayuga-Seneca canals.
The entire system was scheduled to open last Sunday, but state officials announced on Friday that all but the Rochester-to-Tonawanda portion would be closed indefinitely.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
