For some people, the storm that lashed the area September 9 may be fading into memory, but for many home and business owners in the Spencerport and Hilton areas, the memory is still fresh as they continue to deal with the after effects. Thursday, September 9 brought with it a deluge of rain - remnants of Hurricane Frances - that brought the area in the neighborhood of over four inches of rain in many areas and resulted in creeks that overflowed their banks and storm drains that were pushed over the limits. The storm caused the villages of Brockport, Hilton and Spencerport to issue states of emergency and resulted in many road closures, home evacuations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages - in both physical property and loss of revenue. In the Village of Spencerport, the Village Plaza had water so deep in some parts that it at times covered the tops of newspaper boxes. Floodwater spilled over the bank of Northrup Creek and filled the parking lot, yards and homes around the Union Street and West Avenue areas. Hilton saw flooding from Salmon Creek cause extensive damage to the Village II apartment complex, the fire department and HSBC Bank. Hilton’s Mayor Bill Carter said the village has estimated damages at more than $400,000. “It’s been a traumatic experience for the village and its residents,” he said. “If you could have seen the teamwork that was displayed you’d know that Hilton lives up to its motto of being a little village with a big heart,” he said The bridge that spans Salmon Creek was closed because of the floodwaters but was reopened the following day after New York State Department of Transportation officials declared it stable. Ted Walker, mayor of the Village of Spencerport, said the efforts after the storm from street clean up to getting the public back to being able to use their facilities went well. “The big thing is getting the business people back up and going,” he said. “There’s been a lot of effort between people helping others to get back up on their feet.” The Village Plaza Family Restaurant located in the center of the plaza, which Walker said sustained the most water damage, is expected to re-open. “The electricity was turned off to the site while the equipment was checked,” he said. “They were under the most water. I know a couple of businesses in the area were able to move their shops to another location.” Officials in Spencerport hosted an informal meeting September 14 where they asked residents to gather estimates for damage sustained to their homes and businesses and turn them in. The estimates will be submitted to Monroe County for a determination on if the damage sustained across the county exceeds state thresholds that would allow for state and federal money to be offered to residents to help pay for damages. The process, Village Clerk Pam Gilbert said, could take anywhere from days to weeks to perhaps months. Gilbert said the Small Business Administration may also have a plan to help businesses recoup losses whether from damaged goods or loss of revenue. “Everything needs to be documented and if you have pictures, they should be sent along,” Gilbert said. Residents were told that going to their insurance companies should be their first line of defense and if any county, state or federal money is made available it would be secondary. Homeowner Joan Crawford, whose home was filled with one-and-one-half feet of water, said she doesn’t have insurance to cover the damages she sustained. Her home is located on Parkhurst Drive. Gilbert said some costs were turned into her office for damage estimates. The figures were: business damage estimates totaled $449,118.50, that figure incorporates loss of business, damage and cost of clean up; and 13 residential estimates totaling $48,868.33. “We’ve turned the figures over to the county and now we have to wait and see if it meets the threshold for aid,” Gilbert said. When asked what, if anything, could be done to prevent such flooding in the future, Walker said the village and the Town of Ogden had put in a retention pond just south of Route 31 and he said the town is looking to divert drainage for the Timber Ridge subdivision (corner of Route 259 and Route 31) to a separate detention area. “We have put together a plan that offers several options that we’ll be assessing again,” he said. “We have an opportunity to move forward with some of the plans in the report. We have to take them to the next phase and begin implementation.” Spencerport Village Administrator Al Scheg said that not all of the storm system is on public property and that causes a problem with village access to the drainage system. “With a steady rain, our systems work fine, but with the size and intensity of this event the system couldn’t handle it,” he said. “This was an anomaly. You just couldn’t build a sewer big enough to accommodate every storm event.” While Hilton has experienced flooding in the past, normally in the spring, Horylev said they have not seen as much water as they did last week. “The water backed up to the top of the bridge,” he said. “The flooding was just severe.” Clean up in the Town of Ogden was complete the day of the storm, Highway Supervisor Dave Widger said. “Once it stopped raining we started to clean up,” he said. “The portion of road that had washed away was repaired that day also.” In Brockport, where Canal Road residents saw water reach depths of more than 10 feet, clean up is pretty much done, according to Mayor Josephine Matela. “We turned in preliminary estimates to the county for the damage,” she said. “Most of the damage in Brockport occurred to private properties.” Matela said the hard lesson many residents are learning is that flooded basements are not covered by their insurance companies. “I urge people to contact their insurance companies to see what is covered, so if we have an event like this again they will be better taken care of.” |
