Area smack with flooding yesterday and today
Update: Flooding socks region Ravena schools closing early | ||
| Staff reports Last updated: 11:41 a.m., Wednesday, March 5, 2008
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Several roads are closed this morning because of heavy rain and snow melt.
A flood warning remains in effect for the region, especially for the Schoharie Valley and eastern Mohawk Valley. Firefighters and public works crews were mobilizing or on the alert. Niskayuna firefighters reported a foundation collapse on Cranbrook Court. Several departments were answering calls for flooded basements. Western Avenue (Route 20) is closed between Fuller Road and Schoolhouse Road due to flooding, Guilderland police said. A part of the westbound lane of Central Avenue near the city line was closed. In Rensselaer County, officials reported no major flooding though a section of South Street at Aiken Avenue near the Ashland Chemical plant in Rensselaer was closed for isolated flooding there. It reopened at 9:25 a.m. Sheriff's deputies said departments were busy with several requests for help with flooded basements. Several schools closed or delayed their starts. Power outages remain a concern: 1,100 customers in Saratoga County and more than 1,900 in Warren County were without power at 10 a.m. Other area counties had 100 or fewer outages, according to National Grid's Web site. National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Villani said the rain will taper off this morning and pick up again in the afternoon. As of 8 a.m., Albany had received 1.97 inches of rain since the rain began last night, and could get another quarter inch by the end of the day, Villani said. Temperatures are expected to be in the 40s much of the day and ice should not be a problem, according to Villani, who said flooding and wind gusts up to 40 mph are likely to pose the biggest problems. In areas to the east, west and the north of the Capital Region - including Glens Falls and into the Adirondacks - the threat of significant icing remains well into the day, said Meteorologist Brian Montgomery of the National Weather Service in Albany. Thursday is looking much better with sunshine in the forecast and highs in the lower 40s. But don't get used to it. Another storm is possible for the weekend, Montgomery said. The level of the Great Sacandaga Reservoir, used for flood control of the Hudson River, is still almost 20 feet below the spillway. |
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