FlOODS CAUSE MAJOR DEVASTATION

Recent flooding from the rain has caused record breaking devastation across the mid-Hudson region. This weekend’s floods have produced over tens of millions of dollars of damage. The waters are receding but have not disappeared completely. Many flooded roads have not been reopened to traffic and resident’s homes are still waterlogged leaving them temporarily homeless. The American Red Cross is currently working to find motel rooms for scores of people unable to return home.

Officials say rebuilding washed-out roads and bridges will take weeks to months to repair. The total to repair the city buildings and homes will by costly.

"Just in public infrastructure alone, we are looking at millions of dollars. And the human cost. How do you measure the human cost?” says Bruce Kirkpatrick, Ulster County's deputy director of emergency management.

Governor George Pataki has officially declared Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties disaster areas. Disaster inspectors will soon be arriving to evaluate the damage. This must be done before Governor Pataki can ask the President to declare the area a federal disaster area. If the President declares a federal disaster, federal disaster relief will be able to step in and residents can apply for low-interest loans to rebuild their homes.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is sending back up from Texas to reach the flooded areas. FEMA was delayed because of mammoth terrorism drills but is expected to arrive tomorrow.

Officials hope to get a more precise measure of the devastation after state and federal disaster assessment teams tour the two dozen counties in southern New York and western New Jersey that have been flooded and succumb to damage.

When surveying the area, officials have said the hardest hit places were Deerpark. At the intersection of the Neversink and Delaware rivers, 160 homes are expected to condemn. A spokesman from Orange County says that damage in Deerpark is estimating to be at $24 million.

It has been a while since the area has seen damage from a flood like this in many years. The Never sink River reached the highest level recorded in Godeffroy since the U.S Geological Survey began taking measurements there 68 years ago. From the recent floods, the river crested just over its 100-year flood level. The Delaware River in Port Jervis also was very close to its 100-year flood level. The Wallkill River levels were less remarkable only reaching its 15-year flood levels.

Long time resident, Dorthea Solomon, 92, was once the Port Jervis' deputy director of civil defense many years ago. She recalls from a week it flooded, "We had five days straight of solid rain, the kind of rain you look at and say, 'That can't last for long - its too heavy' It was so wet, the found couldn't hold it. The same thing happened this time."

The people of from the area are not strangers to flooding. This is the second flood to hit the area in the past six months. People are already preparing for the next flood. Carol Clancy, owner of My Friends' Place day-care center is preparing for the next flood. She has invested in darker colored rugs - "And ones that I can roll up in a hurry for the next time."