Steuben County crews are working on clearing roads and homes of debris and taking stock of the damage after Tropical Storm Debby created a trail of destruction in southern Steuben County on Friday.
“Cleanup is actively happening in those towns and villages and also portions of Bath and other areas,” Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler said Monday. “The storm heavily affected Canisteo, Greenwood, Jasper, Troupsburg, Cameron and Woodhull.”
Around 25 homes have been destroyed by the flooding, estimated Tim Marshall, Steuben County Office of Emergency Management director. That number could change as more assessments are made around the county.
“These are preliminary damage assessments,” Marshall said. “Our crews are still out collecting data and going house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood and checking areas. It’s a wide area and to capture all the data is very difficult.”
Marshall said residents are encouraged to report damages caused by flash flooding using theNYS Recovery Damage Self Report Tool athttps://arcg.is/0ybK4H0. The online survey allows the county to gather both residential and business damages.
Survey users will be able to include pictures of any damage, Marshall said. Using this tool will allow emergency response personnel to gather information quickly and help guide what necessary next steps may be needed to aid the community.
“We'll be able to have better damage assessment based on this self-reporting tool,” Marshall said.
Damage estimated to be in the millions of dollars
Wheeler said county and state officials are currently doing damage assessments of roads and other public infrastructure.
“The state, just like they did in Tropical Storm Fred, have assessment crews down here from the DOT and from state Homeland Security,” Wheeler said. “We need to document everything to see if we're going to meet the FEMA thresholds. That’s our primary concern.”
Wheeler said the impact of the stormwill cost Steuben Countyand towns and villages "a tremendous amount of money."
"Millions of dollars,” Wheeler estimated. “Hopefully we will get the FEMA funding. We're spending most of our time advocating for the residents. When the storm hit in 2021, there was no federal funding or state funding available for homeowners. We're hoping that changes this time.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul visited Canisteo Sunday and pledged to help communities, businesses and homeowners rebuild. Hochul announced that grants of up to $50,000 will be available for eligible homeowners in Steuben and Allegany counties to help with health and safety-related repairs not covered by insurance or other disaster-relief programs.
The new program by New York Homes and Community Renewal was not available in 2021.
When will roads, bridges reopen in Steuben County?
Marshall said a travel advisory remains in place in the towns of Canisteo, Jasper, Greenwood, Woodhull and Cameron, and residents should avoid unnecessary travel to allow crews to continue cleanup efforts.
“Crews are out there working heavy today,” Marshall said. “Weneed people to stay off the roads in these damaged areas. There's a lot of heavy equipment, a lot of big trucks driving on small and damaged roads. We need people to stay out of there areas.”
Wheeler said some of these road and bridge closures would reopen Monday, while others will be out for an extended period of time, possibly several weeks.
“State DOT and town and village crews are out working to post detours at these areas,” Wheeler said.
Latest update on road closures in Steuben County
The following Steuben County roads remain closed as of Monday evening:
State roads
• State Route 417 from SR 36 to SR 248 (Jasper to Greenwood)
• State Route 36 – From Canisteo (CR119) South to Gravel Run (Town of Canisteo)
County roads
• County Route 119 from CR 128 to SR 36 (Canisteo)
• County Route 14 from CR 119 to Puffer Rd (Canisteo/Howard)
• County Route 31 from CR 63 to SR 36 (north intersection) (Jasper/Canisteo)
• County Route 84 from Hillard Rd to Tombs Rd (Troupsburg)
• County Route 28 from CR 64 to SR 248/Greenwood St (Hartsville/Canisteo)
Town roads
• Bush Hill Rd (Canisteo)
• Red Spring Run Rd (Canisteo)
• Drake Hill Rd from SR 36 to Dennis Rd (Jasper)
• Harder Rd (Woodhull)
• Hardscrabble Rd from CR 81 to Derby Hill Rd (Rathbone)
• Merring Rd from CR 21 to Williams Rd (Rathbone)
• Hungry Hollow Rd from CR 13 to Two Rod Rd/Dinehart Rd (Wheeler/Urbana)
• E Union Rd from CR 11 to Bonny Hill Rd (Bath)
• Windfall Rd from Unionville Rd to Coss Corners Rd (Bath)
• King Hill Rd (Greenwood)
• Norton Hollow (Greenwood)
• Banks Hollow (Greenwood)
A state of emergency and travel advisories remain in place for the towns of Canisteo, Jasper, Greenwood, Troupsburg, Woodhull, and Cameron, Marshall said. Residents should avoid unnecessary travel to allow highway crews to continue cleanup efforts.
This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Flood destroyed at least 25 Steuben County homes, damages in millions
